The government has stripped a
controversial conference of families of sponsorship amid a row
over its an anti-gay, anti-abortion and anti-feminism agenda.
Premier Giuseppe Conte said the endorsement of the World
Congress of Families had come personally from Family Minister
Lorenzo Fontana without consulting Conte or the rest of the
government.
"It was his own spontaneous initiative and neither myself not
the rest of the cabinet, collegially, were consulted," Conte
said Thursday night.
The conference is set to take place in Verona on March 29-31.
Fontana, who has courted controversy with extreme
conservative stances, said earlier this week that the government
still intended to sponsor the controversial gathering.
"As a minister of this government, it was (my decision) to
grant the event sponsorship," Fontana, a member of Deputy
Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini's League party,
told a question-time session in parliament.
"I still intend to confirm that position, as I intend to
confirm my decision to participate".
Fellow Deputy Premier and Labour and Industry Minister Luigi
Di Maio, the leader of the League's coalition partner, the
5-Star Movement (M5S), blasted the conference as something from
the Middle Ages and said M5S members will not be going.
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