Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) tried to praise Italy’s far-right prime minister-elect Giorgia Meloni, but inadvertently misgendered her.
Greene shared a clip of a speech where Meloni claimed she is no longer allowed to call herself “Italian, Christian, woman, mother,” even though she was just elected prime minister by identifying herself as those things. “I must be citizen x, gender x, parent 1, parent 2.”
“That’s why we inspire so much fear,” she said. “That’s why this event inspires so much fear.”
What is actually inspiring fear in the election of Meloni is her firm stance against civil liberties and equal rights, including LGBTQ rights. She opposes allowing adoption by same-sex couples as well as marriage equality, saying that civil unions are “good enough” for LGBTQ people.
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“Yes to the natural family, no to LGBT lobbies,” she declared earlier this year.
As a member of parliament, Meloni pushed for a law to make surrogacy a “universal crime” in response to same-sex couples working with surrogates abroad.
Meloni has also decried “gender ideology,” or the idea that not everyone is straight and cisgender and that not all people want to follow traditional gender roles. A member of her party also tried to stop Italian state broadcaster RAI from airing an episode of Peppa Pig that had a bear with two moms, arguing that that’s “gender indoctrination” because children will think that being gay is “normal, because it’s not.”
“That is sacred,” Meloni said in the clip that Greene shared. “We will defend it. We will defend God, country, and family.”
“So beautifully said,” Greene wrote. “Congratulations to Giorgio [sic] Meloni and to the people of Italy.”
“Giorgio” is generally seen as a male first name in Italian, so Greene effectively misgendered Meloni.
So beautifully said.
Congratulations to Giorgio Meloni and to the people of Italy. https://t.co/XdM8U2mFgt
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) September 26, 2022
Meloni is the most far-right leader of Italy since fascist Benito Mussolini led Italy during World War II. She is also the first woman to be prime minister of the country.
