Capitol Hill: Free Gay Help Line Arrives
A telephone number throughout Italy will provide confidential legal, medical, and psychological support to homosexual, bisexual, and transgender individuals. The initiative is a collaboration between the City of Rome, the Province of Rome, and Arcigay.
90 volunteers at the stations. Rome, March 23, 2006 – A toll-free number for all of Italy that provides confidential listening, support, and information to gays, lesbians, transgender people, and bisexuals. This is the goal of Gay Help Line, the toll-free number (800/713713) born from a collaboration between the Capitoline Hill and the Province of Rome with Arcigay and named after Paolo Seganti, the gay man killed in Rome on the night of July 11-12.
“"The Municipality," explained Mariella Gramaglia, the city's councilor for equal opportunities, while presenting the initiative at the Capitoline Hill, "is participating with a €30,000 grant to Arcigay for the first six months. After that, a standard tender will be held for the management of the service." Thanks to the more than 90 Arcigay volunteers who take turns manning the stations, calling the toll-free number will provide legal, psychological, and medical advice, as well as the opportunity to participate in community and cultural activities.
"With this initiative," Gramaglia added, "we want to promote gay and lesbian rights in Rome to make the city more open and allow all Romans to live with equal dignity." The line, open Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM and Saturdays from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM, was activated on a trial basis for a week and received over a thousand calls.
“"Our sole goal," said Arcigay Roma president Fabrizio Marrazzo, "is to make people's lives more beautiful, to realize the right to happiness that is still denied to gays, lesbians, and many others. In the future, we intend to extend the service to homosexual immigrants, through multilingual operators, and to make the line operational seven days a week.".
Also present at the conference, in addition to Vanni Piccolo, a historic figure of Arcigay, was Augusta Seganti, Paolo's mother, who expressed the hope that the line would facilitate dialogue with young people "who represent our future.".
