Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is reportedly changing his stance on LGBT rights, according to La Repubblica, one of Italy's left of center newspapers:
“The [fight] for civil rights for homosexuals is a fight that in a truly modern and democratic country should be everyone's responsibility,” Berlusconi said, translated here by The Local. "As a liberal, I believe that through a broad and in-depth debate we can reach a reasonable objective for justice and civilization.”
Berlusconi's new position on Italy's queer population comes on the heels of Francesca Pascale, his girlfriend, and Vittorio Feltri, a prominent journalist at Il Giornale, a Berlusconi family-owned newspaper, joining Arcigay, Italy's largest LGBT rights organization.
