Law Humor

A 26-year-old Italian man who was told he had to retake a driving test because he is homosexual has been awarded $150,000 in damages.  A court in Sicily ruled that the government agencies involved had discriminated against Danilo Giuffrida after they learned about his sexual orientation.

Apparently, defense ministry officials learned this fact during a medical examination for military service (because he told them, not because they have a test for it).  For some reason, they passed this information on to the transport ministry, which then told Giuffrida he would have to retake his driving test because of his "sexual identity disturbance."  What that supposedly means, and especially why it might call somebody's ability to drive into question, was not explained.

Giuffrida again took the test and passed it, but was given a license for only one year rather than the usual 10, apparently for the same reason.  He sued.  On July 12, the judge hearing the case ruled that the ministries had discriminated against Giuffrida and ordered them to pay him 100,000 euros ($157,000).  The judge also found that the incident had left Giuffrida with "a grave sense of mistrust towards the state," although if he trusted the state before this, he hasn't been paying very close attention.

Link: Reuters