Bologna Pride, Polis Aperta: “We’ll be there”. Organizers, “we certainly won’t tear people’s shirts off”

“Polis Aperta is a reality, born in 2005, which has always (already in its name) open to discussion, we think that change occurs above all through dialogue capable of breaking down walls. We have been told that we are not in favor of opening a dialogue but if it is precisely the organizers, the ‘Rivolta Pride’ network, who remain firm in their positions “. Alessio Avellino, 26, transgender agent of the State Police and president of Polis Aperta, confirms that in these hours there has been no step backwards on the part of the organizers after the decision to exclude the LGBTQI + association of police workers and armed forces from Bologna Pride. “The State Police has nothing to do with it, they are simply discriminating against us as Polis Aperta, which is not the symbolic power they refer to”, he stresses to Adnkronos Avellino, revealing that he has even heard himself say “that before being trans I’m a cop. ” “I am the first trans State Police officer who chose visibility, precisely because I believe it is important to create a new narrative, including for the police. Things have changed and my story proves it,” says Avellino, the first policeman to having obtained the rectification of the registry sex and name in the documents. “I met many colleagues who shared my identity with me, the State Police recognized me as ‘Alessio’ within the working environment. And this means only one thing: a new course. So carry on this anachronistic narrative of the police and armed forces is only counterproductive. Do we all have the same goal or not, that is to have a more democratic society, attentive to the values ​​of self-determination? So why exclude ourselves from Pride? Polis Aperta – highlights Avellino – it is not the police, the carabinieri or the army, it is an association of LGBT + people who carry out police work. To create a more inclusive society we need allies, not people who exclude “.” We have always participated to the Pride: we will go without banners – Avellino confirms – but we will wear our T-shirts because we identify ourselves in Polis Aperta which is not the uniform “. For his part, Giuseppe Seminario, one of the organ Rising Pride, interviewed by Adnkronos, tries to dampen the controversy on the eve of the rainbow parade in Bologna: “Pride belongs to everyone and everyone, we will certainly not tear people’s shirts”. The question “that we have posed is another, to have a space as safe as possible, especially for marginalized people, so much so that there will be the ‘Simpatia Group’ that will manage the procession. This is why we asked that there be no symbols displayed. , banners and flags. It also concerns political parties and trade associations. At the CGIL, for example, we said not to carry banners “, explains Seminario which expects to repeat last year’s success with about 50,000 participants in Pride. “As already specified in an official note, we have not said that the people who are part of Polis Aperta cannot parade”, says Seminario clarifying that in any case “a reflection on violence in institutions, also present within the State Police, must be opened. . Pride “wants to include above all those who are marginalized by institutional power. It is time for a debate to open in Italy (never before), to understand how to effectively undermine the dynamics of power, of harassment, of violence that are still being carried out not only against LGBT + people but also against other categories. A discussion that I hope will be carried on with less heated tones and without exploitation. Our goal is to question the status quo “, adds Seminar, stating that the path of the Pride Revolt” is open – it is no coincidence that public assemblies have been organized for the construction of the Pride – and with Polis Aperta there will be space for dialogue, We are available”.