Lady Gaga, in Italy to promote Ridley Scott's new film House of Gucci in which she plays 'Black Widow' Patrizia Reggiani, urges Italy's gay community to be braver in reacting to the torpedoing of a centre-left bill against homophobic hate crimes.
Speaking on a prime-time Sunday night show, Che Tempo Che Fa, on State broadcaster RAI's Rai3 channel that drew 3.611 million viewers, 14.5% of the TV audience share, the singer-songwriter of Italian extraction told host Fabio Fazio: "I wanted to say one thing to the LGBTQ+ community in Italy: be braver, be kinder, be an inspiration and when something like this (the sinking of the so-called Zan bill) happens, we must cry disaster.
"I will continue to write music for you and, even more importantly, I will try to fight for you", she said before belting out her gay anthem Born This Way.
Gaga is generating Oscar buzz for her portrayal of Reggiani, convicted of ordering the murder of her ex-husband Maurizio Gucci and sentenced to 26 years in jail, a term she emerged from in 2017.
Gaga, born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta 35 years ago, won an Oscar for best song for A Star Is Born in 1019.
She is known for her LGBTQ+ activisim and has set up a foundation, Born This Way, to fight bullying and help mental health.
The floor of the Senate voted to halt examination of the articles of the Zan homophobia bill and the amendments presented to it, effectively blocking its progress through parliament, on October 27.
Attempts to reach an agreement that would have seen see the bill, filed by centre-left Democratic Party (PD) member and gay activist Alessandro Zan, get broader support failed after it was passed by the Lower House.
The Vatican intervened in relation to the bill earlier this year, expressing concerns that it could breach the Lateran Treaty that regulates relations between the Italian State and the Holy See/Catholic Church.
The Vatican and conservative Italian political parties are worried that the bill could curb freedom of expression, in part because it allegedly leaves areas open to interpretation by courts because it is too vague.
Zan and the rest of the PD argue that the bill would not crimp freedom of expression, and Catholic conservatives would still be able to state that they find homosexuality sinful.
The bill would make homophobia an aggravating factor in acts of violence or discrimination like racism already is.
The bill would also set up an anti-discrimination day that private Catholic schools would be expected to take part in.
The 83-year-old Scott's House of Gucci, also starring Adam Driver as Maurizio Gucci, had its Milan premiere on Saturday night.
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