The possible broadcast on public television of an episode of cartoons in which a lesbian couple appears who are rebellious against the right-wing parties
‘Peppa Pig’ has carved out a niche for itself in the Italian election campaign. The famous little pig, the protagonist of some cartoons that are all the rage among children under five years of age, is suffering firsthand from the polarization that exists in Italy ahead of the general elections that will be held on the 25th of this month. The broadcast in the United Kingdom of a chapter in which Penny Polar Bear, a character who is a friend of Peppa Pig, tells her that she has two mothers, has caused a preventive controversy in Italy due to the possibility that it could also be seen in the ‘Rai’, the public television entity, which offers these cartoons on one of its children’s channels. Italian legislation is one of the most restrictive in Western Europe with homosexual couples: only civil unions between people of the same sex and not marriage are allowed and, in addition, adoption or resorting to assisted procreation techniques is prohibited.
“It is unacceptable that the authors of ‘Peppa Pig’ have put a character with two mothers. Once again political correctness hits us and now our children have to pay. We are against discrimination, but we cannot accept gender indoctrination,” said Federico Mollicone, head of the cultural area of the Brothers of Italy (HdI), the far-right party that leads the polls ahead of the upcoming elections. With close to 25% voting intention, his candidate, Giorgia Meloni, has everything in her face to lead the next government accompanied by her allies from the conservative bloc, Matteo Salvini’s League and Forza Italia, Silvio Berlusconi’s party.
The image of Penny Polar Bear with her two mothers has sparked controversy in Italy. /
Mollicone’s criticism, which has warned ‘Rai’ not to broadcast “on any channel or web platform” the chapter in which Penny Polar Bear talks about her homosexual family, comes after the Pro Association raised its voice Vita e Famiglia, which defends the traditional concept of family and attacks abortion, homosexual couples or euthanasia. This organization launched a campaign through the internet in which it asked the ‘Rai’ not to think of broadcasting “gay cartoons” that with their “LGBTQ sauce influence the minds of children and normalize situations that are based on ideology of genre”.
Family issue”
The president of HdI herself has also intervened in the controversy over ‘Peppa Pig’, assuring that homosexuality is an issue “that families should handle” and that they should not “impose concepts that are too early to metabolize.”
In the debate he held last Monday in a broadcast on the ‘Corriere della Sera’ website with his great rival for the elections, Enrico Letta, leader of the Democratic Party (PD, centre-left), Meloni made it clear that he is against that gay couples can adopt, because “a child who already comes from a disadvantaged situation must be offered the maximum, which is to have a mother and a father”. Letta replied by saying that what he counts is “giving love” to children.
He has also given his opinion on the case of ‘Peppa Pig’ Berlusconi, who is trying to gain a foothold among the more moderate conservative voters against Meloni’s push. For the veteran former president, it is “sad and worrying” that a cartoon “is used to convey an ideological vision of family and sexuality.” In his opinion, it is an example of a “wrong cultural climate” that seeks to “condition” children.
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