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The four Italian advocacy groups supporting Pride House at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics hope to use the games to highlight the lack of LGBTQ rights in their country.

Arcigay, CIG Arcigay Milano, Milano Pride and Pride Sport Milano have organized Pride House within the MEET Digital Culture Center in Milan. The Washington Blade interviewed Pride House project manager Joseph Nakule on February 5th.

In 2020, Nacre founded Peacocks Basket Milano, Italy’s only LGBTQ basketball team. Also, just before speaking to the Blade, he carried the Olympic torch in Milan. (“Heated rivals” Hudson Williams and Connor Storey took part in the torch relay in Feltre, a town in Italy’s Veneto region, last month.)

Nacre said the promotion of LGBTQ rights in Italy is “in fact our main objective.”

ILGA – Rainbow Map of Europe 2025 memo Same-sex couples do not have full marriage rights in Italy, and the country’s hate crime laws do not include sexual orientation or gender identity. Italy prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, but the country’s anti-discrimination laws do not include gender identity.

ILGA Europe made the following recommendations “to improve the legal and policy situation for LGBTI people in Italy”:

• Marriage equality for same-sex couples

• Depathologizing transgender identity

• Automatic co-parent recognition available to all couples

“We are not well known for being one of the most openly LGBT-friendly countries,” Nakhle told the Blade. “That’s why it (Pride House) was really important to the community.”

“We want to take advantage of the Olympics because there is a lot of media attention. And we want to use this media attention to make our voices heard,” he added.

Nakule said Pride House will host “talks and roundtables” each night during the game focusing on a variety of topics, including transgender and non-binary people in sports and AI. The other focuses on what Mr. Nakule told the Blade. “The importance of political movements right now to fight for our rights, especially in places like Italy and the United States where we are moving backwards rather than forwards.”

Seven LGBTQ Olympians – Italian swimmer Alex Di Giorgio, Canadian ice dancers Paul Poirier and Caitlin Weaver, Canadian figure skater Eric Radford, Spanish figure skater Javier Raya, Scottish ice dancer Lewis Gibson, and Irish field hockey and cricketer Nicky Simmons – are scheduled to take part in Pride House’s Out and Proud event on February 14th.

Pride House Los Angeles – Representatives from West Hollywood are scheduled to speak at Pride House on February 21st.

The event will include a screening of Mariano Furlani’s documentary on Pride House and LGBTQ inclusion in sports. MiX International LGBTQ+ Film and Queer Culture Festival will be shown in Milan later this year. Pride House Los Angeles – West Hollywood will also screen the film during the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Nakule also noted that Pride House has launched an initiative to allow LGBTQ sports teams to partner with teams whose members include immigrants from African and Islamic countries and people with disabilities.

“The aim is to show that sport is a bridge between these communities,” he said.

Bisexual American skier wins gold medal

Nakule spoke to the Blade the day before the game started. The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics will conclude on February 22nd.

More than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes will participate in the games.

American alpine skier Breezy Johnson, who identifies as bisexual, won gold in the women’s downhill on Sunday. Amber Glenn, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, helped the United States win a gold medal in team figure skating on the same day.

Glenn said she received threats on social media after telling reporters at a pre-Olympic press conference that LGBTQ Americans were “having a hard time” with the Trump-Vance administration in the White House. Associated Press memo Glenn wore a Pride pin on his jacket at Sunday’s medal ceremony.

“I’m disappointed because I’ve never had so many people want to harm me just because I’m me and I’m just talking about human rights and decency,” Glenn said, according to the Associated Press. “So, that was really disappointing, and I think it kind of diminished my excitement for the piece.”