News that Keshet Italia, Italy’s only Jewish LGBTQ+ association, was barred from participating in this year’s Rome Pride parade on May 25 quickly spread worldwide, sparking condemnation. The Rome Pride organizers explained that their decision was based on Keshet Italia’s refusal to endorse the parade’s political manifesto. The manifesto characterizes Israel’s military operations in Gaza following the October 7 Hamas attack as genocide. Rome Pride is set to take place on June 20.
In a Facebook message, Keshet called the move antisemitic. “Rome Pride has dropped the mask,” the statement read. “In an unprecedented act of exclusion, Keshet Italia, the only Italian Jewish LGBTQIA+ organization, was first denied access to the coordination and then even the possibility of marching with its own float. Our crime? Being Jewish.”
The group had previously issued a statement expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people. However, the association refused to officially use the term “genocide,” arguing that it has specific historical significance and should not be used lightly.
Keshet Italia members could still march on foot with flags and banners. Due to safety concerns following October 7, however, the group said that was not a viable option, which is why they had requested a float. This decision comes one year after Keshet members were attacked at the parade by marchers who called them terrorists and murderers, made Nazi salutes, and attempted to rush the float. Police were forced to evacuate the group before the parade ended.
The exclusion was met with immediate condemnation from Jewish organizations. The Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI) voiced “strong preoccupation and deep contrariety” regarding the decision to bar the only Italian LGBTQ+ Jewish organization. “No one should be required to pass an ideological test to participate in a space established for inclusion,” the UCEI wrote in a statement.
The ban “risks subordinating the participation of Jewish citizens and associations to preventive adherence to specific political positions and interpretations of international events that are still presumed and definitely not ascertained. This kind of approach contrasts with the principles of pluralism, inclusion, and freedom of expression that represent the foundation of the Pride march.”
The statement concluded, “Nobody should be required to pass an ideological test to participate in a space that was born to include and guarantee dignity and rights to people, regardless of their identity, background, or origins. The Pride was born to include, not exclude.”
The European Jewish Congress (EJC) and the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) strongly condemned Rome Pride’s decision, calling it blatantly discriminatory and antisemitic. The EJC stated, “No one should be subjected to an ideological test to participate in a movement founded on inclusion, dignity, and equal rights.” The CAM argued that no other minority community is routinely forced to “renounce its identity or its connection to its homeland” or take a political test simply to participate in public life. Both organizations emphasized that imposing political litmus tests on Jewish groups fundamentally betrays the inclusive founding principles of the Pride movement.