ITALIAN BARRED FROM DRIVING FOR BEING GAY

An Italian man has won an 100,000 euro lawsuit in Catania, Sicily, after he was banned by Italy’s transport ministry from driving because he is gay.

Twenty six year-old Danilo Giuffrida informed doctors in 2001 that he was gay during a medical examination for his military service.

This fact was passed on to the transport ministry which bizarrely suspended his license on the grounds that he did not have the “psycho-physical capabilities required” to drive because of a “sexual identity disturbance.”

He was ordered to re-take his driving test for a second time, which he successfully did. However, instead of having his license renewed for ten years as is the norm, he was only granted a one year license because of his homosexuality.

In the court ruling, Judge Ezio Cannata Baratta said that the state had clearly shown “sexual discrimination” against Giuffrida, overturned the license suspension and ordered the state to pay him damages to the value of €100 000.