Damages for Gay Italian Driver Forced to Retake Test

A 26-year-old Sicilian man has won €100,000 (£80,000) in damages from the Italian state after his driving license was taken away because he was gay. His lawyer claimed it was the first time that the state had been punished for discrimination against an individual on grounds of homosexuality.

Danilo Giuffrida told doctors that he was gay at a medical examination for military service six years ago. Until Italy abolished compulsory military service in 2005, this was a common ploy used by young men trying to dodge a spell in the armed forces.

Perhaps suspecting that he was trying to dupe them, the military listed the then 20-year-old Giuffrida as suffering from a "disturbance of the sexual identity" and informed the transport ministry that he was "not in possession of the necessary psycho-physical requirements". His driving license was then immediately suspended.

Giuffrida agreed to retake his test and passed it for a second time. But the civil authorities, who seem to have fully shared the military view that he was abnormal owing to his homosexuality, gave him a license for one year instead of the usual 10 on the grounds that he was gay.

The judge who heard the case in Catania, Sicily, said the actions of the defence and transport ministries showed "evident sexual discrimination" against the plaintiff and "contempt for his constitutional rights". The two departments were also ordered to pay an additional €10,000 to meet Giuffrida's legal costs during his long fight through the courts.

Giuffrida said: "The money doesn't matter to me at all. But it was fundamental to establish the principle that people cannot be discriminated against on the grounds of their sexual behavior."