Gender course controversy a 'witch-hunt' - Roma Tre Uni dean

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 25 - The dean of the Roma Tre University Massimiliano Fiorucci on Wednesday said a project for trans and gender diverse children and teens organized by his college's Department of Sciences and Training had sparked a "witch-hunt" while the only objective of the project was to better understand the emotional lives of youths involved in the research.
    The workshop for "trans and gender creative kids" between the ages of five and 14 to "listen to them and gather their stories" to be conducted by university researchers and a Montessori teacher, which is scheduled to take place on Saturday at the Roma Tre University, sparked a controversy with a number of politicians and associations including the pro-life Pro Vita announcing initiatives against the project.
    "Over the past few days, an instrumental and misinformed controversy" has been waged over the initiative, said Fiorucci, "which is nothing else than one of the phases of a project - a scientific study of a qualitative nature on the well-being of trans and gender diverse children and teens as clinically recognized by the World Health Organization".
    He said most of the research was of a clinical and medical nature and focused on the mental health of gender diverse children and teens "leaving the social contexts in which they move in the background" and aimed to focus on the perspective of minors rather than the adults in their lives, like many other studies on gender diverse minors.
    "The scientific research carried out by the university is never preceded by a thesis" but could contribute to "elaborating one, including of a different nature", concluded the dean.
    Pro Vita has launched a national petition asking Fiorucci to immediately cancel the initiative which it described as "ideological" and as involving minors outside any shared scientific context.
    Meanwhile University Minister Anna Maria Bernini said she has ordered her ministry's office to contact Roma Tre to gain information on the workshop.
    In particular, Bernini asked to verify whether the project abided by requirements that allowed the university to obtain public funding. (ANSA).