A-Infos (en) Italy, Umanita Nova #23/25 - Sex Education: A Family Affair. Immediate Withdrawal of the Valditara Bill (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Minister Valditara's reactionary and repressive efforts in schools are 
making rapid strides. In addition to the requirements contained in the 
new National Guidelines, the disciplinary code for workers, the reform 
of conduct grading, the hunt for cell phones, and sanctions for those 
who decide to take a lackluster oral exam, the issue of sex education, 
which has recently reached a heated stage of debate, has been added.

Last February, MPs Sasso (Lega) and Amorese (FdI) each introduced a 
bill, both aimed at introducing informed consent from families for 
school activities related to sexuality and affectivity. In practice, 
conducting sex and affective education activities, and only of a 
certain, strictly defined type, requires the consent of families.

In May, the proposed laws were incorporated into a comprehensive bill 
presented by Education Minister Valditara, Bill 2423. The related 
process began in the summer.

Let's try to put these legislative interventions into context.

The spread of sexual violence and femicides, and the particular media 
coverage some of them have received in the last two years, has generated 
a public debate in which the issue of sexual violence as a systemic 
phenomenon of patriarchal society has gained prominence. This call, 
rightly raised by the feminist and transfeminist world, has been poorly 
addressed by the mainstream or, at any rate, by reformist groups. In 
particular, the insistence on attributing the phenomenon of sexual 
violence to young people (recall that the average age of perpetrators of 
femicides is 54), emphasizing their inability to manage emotions and 
relationships, has raised the need for adequate education on sexuality 
and affectivity, starting in schools.

Beyond any legitimate considerations about the general meaning of 
educating about sexuality in a sexist society through schools, we must 
consider the specific implications of initiating this process in the 
shadow of a ministry and a government like the current one, and the 
enormous challenges it poses.

In fact, at the beginning of 2025, the Pro Vita & Famiglia association 
is launching a campaign titled "Not My Child!", specifically aimed at 
"putting pressure on the Government and Parliament to pass a Law on 
Parental Educational Freedom." This is with the explicitly stated goal 
of opposing sexuality and affective education in schools, which is seen 
as a vehicle for indoctrination in gender ideology. Supporting the 
initiative are the associations "Don't Touch the Family" and 
"Generazione Famiglia," as well as prominent government officials such 
as Sasso and Amorese, who, with perfect synchronicity, are incorporating 
the initiative into specific legislative proposals. In June, the 
campaign, now strongly supported by two proposals and a bill from 
Education Minister Valditara, was relaunched at a public event, the 
"Entire Human" Festival, supported by the "Ditelo sui tetti" network, 
now in its second year and closely linked this year to the Jubilee.

Let's look at the content of the legislative acts in question.

Bill Amorese, emphasizing the absolute primacy of the family in deciding 
whether or not to allow their children to participate in sex education 
activities at school, specifies in its introduction the objective of 
introducing informed consent for families: to curb and contain the 
discussion of sexual and emotional education in schools, a vehicle for 
the "spread of distorted cultural models and ideological contaminations 
that appear intolerable (...) avoiding cultural impositions and 
indoctrination on issues of such great and profound sensitivity."

Bill Sasso, also aimed at introducing informed consent for families, 
explores the subject more broadly. All activities "in any way connected 
to issues concerning gender identity or fluidity or sexual orientation, 
or that may even implicitly promote sexual or gender transition," are 
prohibited. A teacher-guard present in the classroom will monitor 
compliance with this diktat, with sanctions for violators (suspension 
from teaching for up to one month). As if that weren't enough, the 
homophobic outburst extends to everyday practices and behaviors, 
affecting some mildly inclusive experiences introduced by some schools. 
Sasso's bill, in fact, calls for the abolition of Alias career paths, 
except in cases where formal "sex assignment rectification" is 
demonstrated. So-called "neutral bathrooms" are also abolished: a strict 
distinction is made between male and female bathrooms and locker rooms, 
with students required to "use only those of the sex assigned at birth." 
A similar requirement applies to participation in sporting events in 
both male and female categories.

Valditara has integrated these proposals into a bill that, while 
reiterating the homophobic and sexist framework, indicates further 
"blocking mechanisms," as he himself calls them.

First, it excludes preschool and primary school from sex education 
activities. It then specifies that all teaching materials for these 
activities must be delivered well in advance and made available to 
families, who must review them and express their consent or otherwise at 
least a week before the event. Strict guidelines are then followed for 
the selection of external individuals who may be involved in the 
activities, whose register will be drawn up and their qualifications 
will be evaluated. Finally, the steps for implementing the mechanism of 
prior informed consent from families have been defined.

It is clear that subjecting a teaching activity to family consent is an 
unprecedented and burdensome operation, even from a regulatory 
perspective alone. It entails a serious limitation on the 
constitutionally protected freedom of teaching and on the powers of the 
Teaching Staff, which is responsible for defining the Three-Year 
Educational Offering Plan (PTOF). It also represents a serious 
limitation on the right to education and training, subject to the veto 
of families, resulting in discrimination among students.

Aware of this highly questionable approach, even on a formal level, 
Valditara has therefore decided to secure the acquisition of family 
consent by unilaterally reforming the PTOF and introducing a special 
section entitled "Sensitive Activities Regarding the Personal Sphere," 
containing the mandatory form for consent.

The bill is currently proceeding through the Chamber of Deputies' 
Culture Committee, chaired-it's worth noting-by Italy's brother Federico 
Mollicone, who recently made headlines for his attacks on an episode of 
the cartoon series Peppa Pig, which featured a same-sex family with a 
polar bear with two mothers.

The gravity of the legislation under discussion is evident. Aside from 
the simultaneous violation of a dozen legislative provisions that should 
protect the rights of students, teachers, citizens, educational 
institutions and their governing bodies, etc., what is odious and 
extremely serious lies on a specifically political and repressive level. 
For a bill to even tell us which bathroom to use isn't foolish, it's 
violence. It is violence to deny young transgender people the 
opportunity to try to understand, name, and define themselves, even at 
school, in the daily interactions of a study and work environment, 
outside of a process of medicalization. Subjecting sex education to the 
ideological control of families, under the pressure of ultraconservative 
and homophobic right-wing groups, is violent.

Familyism is also a recurring trait in other school policy contexts. 
Suffice it to say that an annual substitute teacher appointment 
procedure has just come into force that, in defiance of rankings, 
provides for the confirmation of temporary support teachers from the 
previous year based on requests from families of children with 
disabilities: all of this in public schools.

This rampant and harmful family-centered rhetoric affects not only 
schools and appears even more grotesque when compared to the 90% of 
femicides that occur within families or, for example, the cases of 
platforms or social media groups like "My Wife."

Of course, regarding the Valditara bill, its sexist, homophobic, 
discriminatory, and reactionary nature is not surprising. However, we 
must avoid trivializing or underestimating an extremely significant 
issue. Some grassroots unions, school workers, collectives, 
associations, and students have already taken a stand and loudly called 
for the withdrawal of the Valditara Bill. It is essential to understand 
the violent implications of this bill and its connections with broader 
government policies. And it is essential to effectively oppose it, both 
in the workplace and in the context of broader social struggle.

Patrizia Nesti

https://umanitanova.org/educazione-sessuale-un-affare-di-famiglia-ritiro-immediato-del-ddl-valditara/
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