Jean Pierre Moreno was punched and kicked by an aggressor at the Valle Aurelia station on February 26, after kissing his boyfriend, who was hit in the eye.
Video footage of the homophobic attack was shared on Sunday by the Gaynews and Gaynet Roma associations and was shown on Italian television.
In the clip the aggressor is seen approaching the two men, one of whom reacts by asking him: “What’s your problem? Who are you?”
The man, who ran across two sets of train tracks to start the fight, continues to swing punches and kicks, asking the couple: “Are you not ashamed of yourselves?”
Many politicians have condemned the attack, including Italy’s minister for family and equal opportunities, Elena Bonetti, who expressed her solidarity with the victims.
“Scenes like this, violence, discrimination, offend us all,” she wrote on Facebook.
“They humiliate our conscience as a country. And we must repudiate them, no ifs or buts.”
The mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi of the populist Five Star Movement (M5S), described the assault as an “intolerable offence against all our community”, while Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia (FdI) said she was “shocked” by the “absurd and brutal violence”, adding that she hoped that the “person responsible for the cowardly violence will pay”.
Governor of the Lazio region, Nicola Zingaretti of the centre-left Partito Democratico (PD) wrote on Facebook: “Two young men beaten up for a kiss. It seems incredible but it happened to a gay couple in Rome.”
Zingaretti called for the immediate passing of the so-called Zan law against homophobia, adding that “it’s time for a fairer country for everyone”.
The proposed anti-discrimination law, which aims to protect the LGBTQ community, women and people with disabilities from hate attacks, was passed in Italy’s lower house of parliament in November despite months of protests from far-right and Catholic groups.
The bill still requires final approval from the upper house.
A conviction under the new law would carry a potential prison sentence of 18 months.
Alessandro Zan, a member of the Democratic Party (PD) and LGBTIQ activist who promoted the bill, described it as a “big step forward against discrimination, hatred and violence”.
Zan said there was an urgent need to pass a law that exists “in almost all other western countries”.
Matteo Salvini’s right-wing League party has opposed the legislation, with the party’s representatives in the parliament and senate stating: “Do not exploit vile acts of aggression like today’s for political ends. Any type of violence and any homophobic episode must be strongly condemned and our penal code already provides for adequate sentences and sanctions for those who commit similar horrible acts.”
In Italy, LGBTIQ rights groups report hundreds of hate crime incidents each year.
However, sadly most of the crimes go unpunished, according to The Guardian.
Although Italy approved same-sex civil unions in 2016, the country has failed to establish concrete anti-homophobia measures.
