GAY MAN PASSES OUT FROM HUNGER STRIKE, WANTS ASYLUM IN SPAIN
GAY MAN PASSES OUT FROM HUNGER STRIKE, WANTS ASYLUM IN SPAIN
(ANSA) - Savona, February 2 - A gay Italian man petitioning the Spanish government for asylum briefly lost consciousness on Wednesday after nearly a month on hunger strike to demand civil union rights from the Italian government.
Francesco Zanardi, 39, said he felt ''tired, but better'' after receiving first aid from doctors at home, who said he refused to be hospitalized despite showing signs of severe malnutrition.
Zanardi and his partner, Manuel Incorvaia, 22, have been on hunger strike, on and off, since their January 5 appeal to the center-right Italian government to reconsider its opposition to civil unions.
''This has been a very difficult time for us, but we'll make it through,'' said Zanardini.
''Also because we intend to end our strike as soon as Spain grants our request for asylum''.
On Monday, the two men wrote to the Spanish embassy in Rome asking for refugee status on the grounds of their alleged persecution as homosexuals and the Italian government's ''indifference'' to their pleas.
They said their request fell under the Geneva Convention of human rights.
''The situation is critical. We live in a dictatorship,'' they said.
Though Zanardini and Incorvaia have generated a groundswell of support among the Italian gay and lesbian community, and garnered endorsements from a number of opposition MPs and an gay-rights group in the European parliament, they said Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government was ''content to let us starve''.
''They're even trying to block our access to the media. People are talking about our campaign all over Europe, even in the United States, but not in Italy,'' they complained.
Now the two have given up on Italy and decided to move to Spain, where same-sex marriage is legal.
The Spanish embassy has not yet responded to their asylum request, nor has the Italian government made any comment about it.
Cohabiting homosexual and heterosexual couples in Italy are currently unable to obtain financial and 'next of kin' rights if their loved one dies, is seriously ill or is sent to prison.
Such couples currently have no shared rights to social benefits, property and inheritance.
The former centre-left government attempted to pass new laws to give couples these rights but failed to get them through parliament in the face of fierce opposition from centre-right politicians, the Catholic Church and Catholic dissenters within its own majority.
Last week, a study by socioeconomic think-tank Eurispes revealed that 61% of Italians are in favor of some kind of legal recognition for gay and lesbian couples, a rise of over 10% since 2003.
