ROME (AP) 鈥 The Rome LGBTQ+ Pride parade celebrated its 30th anniversary Saturday as tens of thousands of people in brightly colored outfits marched through the Italian capital waving banners, dancing and singing as they marked gay rights and poked fun at Pope Francis.
Many of the signs and banners at the parade made fun over a recent comment made by the pontiff.
The Pope had to issue after Italian media quoted unnamed bishops saying that Francis jokingly used the term 鈥渇aggotness鈥 while speaking in Italian during a meeting. He had used the term in reaffirming the Vatican鈥檚 ban on allowing gay men to enter seminaries and be ordained priests.
Francis reportedly repeated the word a second time in a meeting with Rome priests this week.
鈥淎ttention, from here on high levels of faggotry,鈥 read a sign on a large motorcycle driven by a woman in a rainbow-colored hat at the front of the parade.
A man dressed up as Pope Francis held a sign reading 鈥渢here is too much faggotry in this parade.鈥
The leader of Italy鈥檚 main opposition party, Elly Schlein, danced on a float at the center of the parade. She is a strong supporter of LGBTQ+ rights, with views differing sharply from Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni.
Meloni鈥檚 Brother of Italy party program states it is against marriage equality, gay parents adopting children, and surrogate pregnancies. Last year, her far-right government limited recognition of parental rights to the biological parent only in families with same-sex parents.
A woman held up a sign reading, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 like Meloni, but I like melons and red hair.鈥
Another sign made fun of Gen. Roberto Vannacci, a newly elected member of Parliament for the European Party with the right-wing League party. Vannacci was fired by Italy鈥檚 defense minister after writing a book deemed offensive to women, gays and Blacks.
鈥淚f according to Vannacci the LGBTQIA+ is a minority 鈥 he has never met the seminarians of Pope Francis.鈥
