“They don’t really understand what it means to say to live in a country where homophobia kills.”
–Nichi Vendola, president of Italian region Apulia and leader of the Left Ecology Freedom party, as well as one of the country’s two openly gay regional leaders, speaking with Chi magazine. Vendola was responding to comments made by fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, who stated in an interview that they were against gay parents and railed against the use of IVF and surrogacy for couples to conceive.
“I think that from their lofty social rank they don’t really understand what it means to say to live in a country where homophobia kills and the deficit of rights weighs on a lot of lives,” Vendola stated (translation courtesy of TheLocal.it) adding that he’s considering having children of his own after his political career has finished. “As soon as I’ve left the role of governor I will also reflect on whether to take on fatherhood or not. It’s a thought that rests in a corner of my life and one which I have always pushed back. Certainly, I have always loved the world of childhood and I would like to write a book of nursery rhymes for children.”
Younger teenagers -- primarily girls -- are less likely to identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual than they were a few years ago, according to an analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
The data, drawn from the CDC's biennial Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, show that the biggest decline in LGB identification among high school students is among ninth-grade girls, according to Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University.
Writing in her Substack Generation Tech, Twenge noted that the 2025 survey data show a decline in LGB identification across all high school grades, with the starkest decline among ninth graders -- from nearly 17% in 2021 and 2023 before cratering to 11% in 2025.
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