Boy, 16, banned from class 'for being gay'

(ANSA) - Rome, September 29 - Carabinieri police were on Tuesday investigating claims that a 16-year-old boy was banned from the classroom at a Catholic school in Monza because he was gay.
    The claims were made by the boy's father in an email to the school principal and local press. The man said his son had been made to sit in the corridor for several weeks after a photograph featuring him with another boy was posted to a social network. Gay rights group Arcigay said Tuesday it was "disconcerted" by the news and called on the ministry of education to intervene.
    "There is no catechism in Italy that is more valid than our constitutional charter," a statement said.
    Arcigay also pointed the finger at a proposed amendment to the 1993 Mancino law on discrimination making it an offense to instigate or commit discrimination or acts of violence on the grounds of homophobia or transphobia.
    Parliamentary debate on the measure in 2013 produced "ambiguities" that effectively reinforced racism and homophobia in Italy, the organisation said.
    Arcigay therefore called on the Senate to schedule discussion of the bill approved by the Lower House two years ago, "eliminating the shortcuts and ambiguous formulas that make discrimination and violence possible and even justifiable in our country".