In this article, we take Verona as an entry
point to analyse “anti-gender” mobilizations
in Italy and transfeminist reactions. We pro
vide an overview of the Italian “anti-gender”
campaign by describing the role of Catholic
actors and the political Right. We therefore ex-
amine the many forms these mobilizations
have taken, especially between 2013 and
2017, and some of the responses by activists
and academics during those years. We then
consider some exemplary cases of both “anti-
gender” attacks and transfeminist reactions
that took place between 2018 and 2019. In
particular, we focus on the so-called Pillon de-
cree, which displays the link between “anti-
gender” movements and legislative initiatives,
on the Zelger motion against abortion presen-
ted by the Verona City Council, and on the
13 th World Congress of Families that took
place in Verona. We conclude with an exami-
nation of the reactions to these events – the
“Verona transfeminist city” demonstration
and the creation of GIFTS, the Italian network
of gender studies – in order to show the
strength of the counterattack.
