Today it's IDAHOBIT (International Day Against Homo, Bi, Trans phobia), our Italian member Alessandro has written a reflection.

TW: suicide

Matteo was sixteen when he took his own life. It was 2007, in Turin (Italy). For over a year, his classmates had harassed him with insults and taunts, some passed off as casual remarks, others overtly cruel, all part of a daily torture. Cruelty is never casual, but it is often treated that way. His mother, a migrant from the Philippines, had spoken with teachers to protect him, but her voice was not listened to enough. He left a letter behind: “Non ce la faccio più” ("I can't take it anymore"). When he died, silence followed.

“Is it possible that our Catholic pastors, usually so vocal on the subject of homosexuality, had not a word for him?” was the cry raised by the Kairos group of LGBT Christians. To break the silence, they lit a candle, and the first vigil was born. Not a protest, but an act of grief, prayer, and presence.

Since then, the Vigils For the Overcoming of Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphoibia have grown into a decentralised, ecumenical tradition, with gatherings held in dozens of cities in Italy and all over the world. They take place throughout May, in spiritual alignment with the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, created to mark the day the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses.

Since 2007, La Tenda di Gionata connects groups, shares resources, and sustains momentum; but the vigils have no owner and belong to all who choose to show up and pray and remember. Because keeping vigil is not passive. It is a way to say: we are still here, and we remember.

As time changes, so do these vigils. They remain moments of memory but also of joy, gratitude and determination for a better future.

I extend an invitation to everyone, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, friends and allies, don’t sleep that night, my friends, join the vigils, and keep the light burning, for the overcoming of homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia.

Discover the cities in vigil, visit : www.gionata.org/en/inveglia

Alessandro Ludovico Previti