When Marlon Landolfo kissed his date on a night out, onlookers started heckling, a fight broke out and his friend ended up in hospital – the latest in a series of anti-gay attacks in Italy where plans to combat homophobic violence are hotly contested. “They hurled insults at us,” said Landolfo, 22, describing how he and Mattias Fascina, 26, were pushed to the floor, kicked and punched, in the northern Italian town of Padua last month. “When a friend who was with us told them off, one guy headbutted him,” he said, adding that the friend was then hit on the head with a glass bottle, requiring 10 stitches. The police were not immediately available for comment but local media reported that four men and a woman had been charged with actual bodily harm, which has a penalty of up to three years in jail.