Organizers of Rome’s annual Pride parade have barred Italy’s only Jewish LGBTQIA+ organization from marching with a float at this year’s June 20 parade, although they are still allowed to participate in the march itself.
In a statement that came out Monday, Roma Pride said Keshet Italia had failed to endorse its political manifesto, which characterized Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as a genocide. It also accused the organization of making an “unacceptable lexical distinction,” by refusing to use the word “genocide” to describe Israel’s military campaign in Gaza in the aftermath of the Hamas Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Keshet Italia, which has no affiliation with the Israeli government or the State of Israel, called the move antisemitic in a Facebook message posted Tuesday.
“Roma Pride has dropped the mask,” the statement read. “In an unprecedented act of exclusion, Keshet Italia, the only Italian Jewish LGBTQIA+ organization, was first denied access to the coordination and then even the possibility of marching with its own float. Our crime? Being Jewish.”