Franco Grillini

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Padua, 2002

Franco Grillini (born in March 14, 1955) is an Italian politician and a gay rights activist.

[edit] Career

He was born in Pianoro, Province of Bologna.

A psychologist and journalist, Grillini entered into politics in the 1970s with the Proletarian Unity Party; in 1985 he ran as Italian Communist Party candidate in the province of Bologna. Following the disbandment of the Italian Communist Party, Grillini joined the Democratic Party of the Left, then become Democrats of the Left. He was first elected member of the Italian Parliament in 2001, and re-elected in 2006. In 2007, he left his party, refusing to join the Democratic Party, and joined the Democratic Left movement.

He has been Honorary President of gay Italian organisation Arcigay since 1998, President since 1987 and Secretary since 1985, in which year he also helped to found the Association.

In 1999 he was named president of the Italian Ministry for Equal Opportunities’ “Commission for the Rights and Equal Opportunities of Homosexual People”.

On May 29, 1998 he opened the first Italian press agency for gay news: NOI (Italian Gay News), of which he is the editor.

In 1997 he conceived and founded LIFF (Italian Common Law Families League), which aims to promote legislation for the legal recognition of homosexual and heterosexual partnerships.

Ten years before, in 1987, he both conceived and founded LILA (Italian League Against Aids), and from 1991 to 2001 he held continuous membership of the Ministry of Health’s “National Council for the Fight against Aids”. He was elected for the first time to the Council of the Province of Bologna in 1990, and subsequently re-elected in 1995 and 1999.