"I am against the LGBT community." With this motivation a 13-year-old boy refused to use a ladder painted with rainbow colors to raise awareness about inclusion. A categorical refusal, to the point that he climbed along the railing, putting his safety at risk. For this the student received a grade.

The episode, which occurred in a middle school in Verona and was reported by the local press and the Corriere della Sera, has become a case .

The institute clarified that the student received the sanction "for having put himself in a dangerous situation", not for the ideas he expressed, "contrary to LGBT issues" , as the boy actually confirmed once he spoke to the principal.

The boy's parents, however, defined the reasons for the punishment given to their son as "unacceptable" and wrote to the Minister of Education, Giuseppe Valditara, asking for his intervention.

Lega Nord MP Rossano Sasso also agreed with the parents: "We cannot - he wrote on Facebook - want to forcefully inculcate gender culture in young people. And the boy's parents did well to ask for the intervention of Minister Valditara who started the investigations into the case".

The “rainbow staircase” at the centre of the story features words such as “respect”, “tolerance”, “listening”, “welcoming” on its steps and was painted a year ago by students of the school on the occasion of the Day against Homophobia.

The municipal councilor for human rights of the Municipality of Verona, Jacopo Buffolo, also intervened on the matter: «They are trying to raise a case around a school episode, which seems to be built on an instrumental narrative».

(Online Union)

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