The first “gay political party” is currently being established in Italy. Fabrizio Marrazzo, former president of Acrigay, the National Organisation for the LGBT+ community was prompted to found an LGBT+ political party after a Euromedia survey revealed that 6.2% of Italians would vote for a political party centred around the rights of LGBT+ people, while another 27.3% of voters would be interested in the “birth of such a movement”.

Marazzo registered the party’s logo with the Italian Patent and Trademark Office in August. The party is yet to release an official name and is currently being referred to as the “Gay Party”. The logo will feature colours from the Pride flag, as well as the words “Europa” and “Italy” in its inscription.

Marazzo explained that his party would be committed to advocating for the rights of LGBT+ people in every field, as well as introducing legislation that would prevent discrimination.

However, Marazzo has attracted criticism after suggesting that Italy’s national-conservative party, ‘Fratelli d’Italia’ (Brothers of Italy), is the “most gay-friendly party”. He made this claim after a survey revealed that 67.7% of the alt-right party’s voters would have “expressed positive opinions and closeness to LGBTI people”.

The president of the Acrigay centre in Aosta Valley criticised Marazzo’s party saying “Politics is a serious matter. I don’t appreciate my sexual orientation being used as a launch pad by someone who is an unaware victim of his own megalomania”.

The future of the party remains uncertain. Marazzo said that it will take “some time” to properly establish the party.

While Italy granted same-sex civil unions in 2016, Rainbow Europe has called it “one of the worst countries in Western Europe for gay rights”. In August, the country’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini called same-sex parents “unnatural” and promised to “exercise all possible power to defend the natural family founded on the union between a man and a woman.”