Singer-songwriter and gay rights advocate Elton John has criticised the new mayor of Venice on
social media as "boorishly bigoted" for banning books about
homosexuality from the Italian city's
schools.
The
mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, who was elected in June, banned some 50
books featuring same-sex couples from schools a month later, fulfilling one of
his campaign promises.
The
singer, who has two children with his partner David Furnish, took to Instagram to post an image of Todd
Parr's "The
Family Book," which details the lives of various kinds of
families, and describe Brugnaro as looking "extremely silly".
"He's stupidly chosen to
politicise children's books by banning titles that touch on same-sex families
living happily ever after," the singer posted on Saturday.
"Beautiful Venice is indeed
sinking, but not as fast as the boorishly bigoted Brugnaro."
Banned
books are reported to include Ophelie Texier's Jean a deux mamans (Jean has two
mummies) and Justin Richardson & Peter Parnell's And Tango Makes Three -
based on the real life coupling of two penguins in a New York zoo.
The
68-year-old singer's intervention follows a wider backlash in Italy, where
campaigners carried out a marathon read-in of the banned books and more than
250 authors wrote to the mayor asking for their books to be removed in an act
of solidarity.
While
most of the banned books have been returned to libraries, Brugnaro has defied
criticism of his decision in a statement posted on his website and on Twitter.
The mayor
criticised the "cultural arrogance" of the previous administration
which introduced the books without "asking anything to anyone, especially
to families".
"Dear Elton John, I have no
problem with homosexuals," Brugnaro tweeted on Tuesday.
The
controversy comes amid wider debate in Italy on same-sex marriage and
parenting.
Since
Ireland backed same-sex marriage by a landslide in a referendum in May, Italy
is now the only country in western Europe where any form of same-sex union -
whether civil partnership or marriage - is still illegal.
Prime
Minister Matteo Renzi said
last month his government would introduce a law on civil unions by the end of
the year. Italy is deeply divided on the issue and protests against civil
unions in June brought hundreds of thousands to the streets of Rome.
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