“But aren’t there more important things than your boobs?” This is one of the comments lawyer and activist Cathy La Torre read on her profile shortly after she told her about her decision to undergo breast reduction surgery on her social media. “After a few days I started writing the book.” It comes out today in bookstores, May 17, on the occasion of the International Day Against Homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, There are more important thingspublished by Mondadori, the second book of the lawyer who has always been at the forefront for the defense of everyone’s rights.
Why the choice of breast reduction?
“I did it to be more consistent with my non-binary gender identity and when I told it on social media, some newspapers took up my story but they did it not for a matter of costume but for a reflection on the fact that there are non-binary people “.
What is your definition of non-binary?
«I don’t feel like adhering to the male-female binary fully. Let’s say that if we think of two parallel tracks of the train, I put myself in the middle of these two tracks with respect to the male and the female ».
Did that comment hurt you?
“Whoever wrote to me,“ But there are no more important things to talk about than Cathy La Torre’s boobs, ”implicitly said there are more important things to talk about than non-binary people. I reject this thing because all people have equal dignity ».
This thought is also the basis of your new book.
“The book is a deconstruction of the rhetoric of ‘there are more important things’, which is like saying ‘we don’t do rights because there are more important things’. In this book I demonstrate how important things all are, because every battle that is important to each of us has the same dignity as any other. This juxtaposition of priorities is just a way to procrastinate a lot of things and rights that could be done at no cost ».
For instance?
«Just look at what is around the Zan Bill, a law against homotransphobia that costs nothing but also the reform on adoption, the law on euthanasia, the right to sexuality for people with disabilities. Basically in Italy through the rhetoric of there are more important things, politics also postpones the things that she herself claims to be more important, such as the reform of labor, of justice. Let’s look, for example, at the question of the double surname and then the sentence of the Constitutional Court which established that the rules that require the father’s surname to be automatically given to the son are illegal. On that occasion, the political and government leader Matteo Salvini declared: “Those were the important things in Italy”. It is always a way to postpone the enactment of rights that could truly be given today and would positively impact a lot of lives. “
So there is no ranking of the most important things?
«The important things are all. This ranking of the most important things is a false question because it is not really looking for an answer. “
Has something good happened for the rights in Italy in the last year?
«The huge mobilization around first the Zan Bill and then the two referendums, euthanasia and cannabis. The bad news is that we have nothing in our hands but I am convinced that the great mobilizations will inexorably lead to a great season of rights. I do not think that parents, but also older people, those most reluctant to change have felt nothing in front of the images of the exultation of the senators for the dropping of the Zan Bill, a law against hate crimes, and yes they are convinced that this is a beautiful scene. There are laws that even people not directly affected are in favor because they may be directly involved later. Any of us could someday have a child, a homosexual, transsexual parent. Any of us could have someone going through the experience of euthanasia. They are laws that can belong to everyone, regardless of political belief ».
Are we ready for a great new season of rights?
«The battles to be fought now are all and should constitute a great season of civil rights in Italy that hasn’t happened since the 70s. In the book I tell as already in the 80s the socialists waged the battle of legal euthanasia. There is no priority, we must do the ius soli, the legalization of soft drugs, we must reform adoptions, review the Merlin law on prostitution, a law against hate crimes, a law on conscientious objection that is serious . A real season of rights must concern them all ».
The book comes out today, May 17, International Day Against Homophobia.
«The day against homophobia has been officially celebrated with the President of the Republic since 2008. We celebrate a day that says that people should not be discriminated against, bullied, attacked because they are as they are. The theory of gender, which does not exist, has never killed anyone, homolesbobitransphobia yes, this is the message that we should send to all schools “.
Do you happen to feel in danger?
“In the book I tell that despite being an adult, a lawyer, also committed to the fight against discrimination of all kinds and therefore with a certain expertise, when I walk on the street and are holding hands with my partner if I meet a group of people, especially if they are men, I have the instinctive gesture of letting go of her hand, because I’m afraid. This is also dangerous because it projects prejudice on men, why do I have this fear? Because we let the conflicts between groups grow in our society ».
How do you work on it?
“With a law against hate crimes. When it didn’t pass, I thought those who attack have won. For me it is black or white, either you stay with the attackers or you are with the attacked ».
Source: Vanity Fair
