I want a future that is born from listening to the experience of LGBT people

Dear Paolo, I am Massimo I am 53 years old and I am from Verona. Thank you for reporting your experience. A very important and great value experience, full of intimacy and dignity.

In this proliferation of enthusiastic stories of young gays who discover their identity and tell it and of parents who testify their attention to the LGBT children should not be forgotten two fundamental things that your reflection has prompted me to propose here:

1) The journey of those who fought in the 70s, 80s and 90s and which made all this possible.
2) The experience of those who have passed them in suffering and solitude.

As a scholar and passionate about history I remember that only memory makes free (the quote is not mine, but by Liliana Segre); I remember that only by knowing our past can we be aware of the rightness and effectiveness of what we do now; I remember that the rights should never be taken for granted and the risk of losing them is always there; I remember that it would be good that important testimonies like yours, dear Paolo, were collected and published so that the experience of those who preceded us are not forgotten. We could draw important teachings.

It continues by reporting the words of a friend of Padua who often tells us that the 70s and 80s have been not easy to deal with years, but their memory constitutes an invaluable heritage that must not be canceled. Let's not forget that the struggles and choices of those years have allowed us to be able to face the tragedy caused by AIDS, adding a greater awareness to our experience (also influenced by the serious losses that many of us have undergone).

But also having had to live in silence and secretly a life because it is stigmatized and frightened is a theme that should not be forgotten. Paolo dear, I don't know you, but thank you for allowing us to reflect on all this.