(ANSA) - Rome, August 12 - Two gay Italian men were attacked
on Saturday at a nightclub in Valencia, Spain, said Fabrizio
Marrazzo, spokesman for the association Gay Center and director
of the Gay Help Line, an Italian nationwide hotline providing a
range of services including one for reporting acts of homophobia
and transphobia.
Marrazzo said the two men, ages 19 and 25, were insulted and
beaten, and they called the hotline after receiving treatment
for their injuries.
He said the men plan to file a complaint with the Italian
consulate.
"We are calling on the Italian Foreign Ministry to intervene
to provide maximum support to the men and prevent the aggressors
from going unpunished," Marrazzo said.
He said Spain has had laws against homophobia since 1995,
with more specific laws that went into effect in the autonomous
region of Catalonia in 2014, but that no such laws exist in
Italy.
Two gay Italian men attacked in Spain
Gay Center calls attack homophobic, calls for ministry support