Leather Club Roma and KinkyGirls®️ denounce a serious episode of disinformation harming the leather, fetish and kinky communities

Disinformation not only obscures the truth, it fuels discrimination.
And we do not accept it.

At the end of a #PrideMonth that saw wide, strong and heartfelt participation across our country, Leather Club Roma (LCR) and the KinkyGirls®️ collective are forced to denounce a very serious episode of disinformation perpetrated to the detriment of the leather, fetish and kinky communities by the digital edition of Corriere della Sera (corriere.it).

In an article published for #RomaPride2024 on 14 June, the newspaper, while listing the associations present at the parade, reported the following sentence (our translation from the Italian):

“And there are also the bondage and kinky floats, recent additions to the LGBTQUIA+ community, who want to be protected in their extreme sexual practice, to protect themselves from diseases.” (link)

LCR and KinkyGirls®️ promptly acted to request a correction of the article, but the request, despite precise legal obligations, has gone unanswered.

Against this serious and deafening silence we intend to protest strongly on behalf of the communities we represent.

The statement contained in the article is in fact seriously inaccurate – if not offensive – in several respects, since:

1. the groups the article refers to are not asking for protection for “extreme sexual practices” (which, moreover, are independent of sexual orientation), but are claiming rights for the LGBTQIAPK+ community on a par with every other component present at the parade. Our goal is equality of rights and visibility of the different facets of our community;
2. the prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is not a feature exclusive to our groups, since this topic, which again concerns everyone (regardless of sexual orientation), is addressed across the whole LGBTQIAPK+ associative world in a broad and pluralist way. Indeed, there are associations focused on this topic (e.g. Plus Roma, the float following ours) to which goes our most convinced support, because we share the claim to a right to a free and non-normative sexuality;
3. LCR and KinkyGirls®️ are not recent activist groups. On the contrary, LCR has been active for 25 years and KinkyGirls®️ for six, the latter following in the wake of BDSM and separatist activist spaces born already in the 1980s. These are established groups that have made a continuous commitment not only against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but also against the most deep-rooted forms of discrimination against sexual freedom.

We cannot tolerate such a serious episode of disinformation, because it is precisely the spread of false information that entrenches prejudice and stereotypes, creating insurmountable barriers between people. From this perspective, protesting against disinformation is also a fight for equality and equal rights, which we carry on with the same pride that the Corriere smears with the superficiality of the checks carried out on information concerning us.

We therefore launch an appeal to all of you and not only to LGBTQUIAPK+ community activists, to join us in demanding the immediate correction of the article, without further delay, both on social media and by contacting the newsroom and its editor at the following addresses: lfontana@rcs.it; aarachi@rcs.it; CronacaRm@rcs.it; webcontact@rcs.it.

Leather Club Roma (LCR) – KinkyGirls®️