Mayor Of Venice Cancels Pride, Calls It “A Joke—The Ultimate In Kitsch

"There will be no gay pride in my Venice."
From: NewNowNext

 Mayor Luigi Brugnaro of Venice doesn’t want a Pride celebration in his city, he told an Italian newspaper, calling the event “a joke, the ultimate in kitsch.”

This is the place where guys in stripe shirts and straw hats row boats while drunk couples make out, right?

“There will be no gay pride in my Venice,” Brugnaro declared, calling the celebration “farcical” and “kitsch.”

Brugnaro, who swears he’s not homophobic, was being interviewed about his beef with Elton John, who called the mayor a “bigot” for trying to ban books that presented same-sex families in a positive light from being read in schools.

“It’s arrogant that for three years [Elton John] has not set foot in Venice,” Brugnaro said. “His family, two men and children, is unnatural.”

Instead of Venice Pride, Brugnaro suggested “Let them go at it in Milan or at home.”

Venetian LGBT activists aren’t trying to hear that, though.

“We will be back next year and we invite the mayor to march at the head of the parade with us,” said Flavio Roman of Arcigay. “That way he will see what a Gay Pride really is.”