Italian awarded £80,000 after losing his driving licence because he’s gay
A court has ordered the Italian government to pay €100,000 (£80,000) in damages to a man forced to retake his driving test because he was gay.
Danilo Giuffrida, now aged 26, told the authorities that he was gay in 2001 while he was undergoing routine medical tests prior to military service.
The military hospital where he was examined later passed on the details of his sexuality to the transport ministry saying that Signor Giuffrida did not posses the “psycho-physical capabilities required” to drive a vehicle.
His driving licence was revoked due to what was described as a “sexual identity disturbance”.
After retaking the test, which he passed, he was awarded a year long licence instead of the standard ten years due to his sexuality.
The court found that both the Defence and Transport Ministries showed “evident sexually humiliating discrimination” against Signor Giuffrida. This breached his constitutional rights, the court ruled.
Signor Giuffrida’s lawyer told reporters that he hoped that Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, would “apologise to him on behalf of the state and all Italians”.
Signor Giuffrida said he was pleased that “from now on what happened to me can’t happen again.”
