From "Corriere della Sera Magazine" of January 27, 2005 by Vittorio Zincone
But who are you if you're not gay?
Corriere della Sera Magazine, January 27, 2005
They're conquering the scene like never before. This winter's zapping has them as stars of TV series (My son on Rai Uno), prime time and late night shows (with The Fantastic 5 on La7 and Martian Chronicles on Italia 1, reality shows (with the victory at Big Brother of the gay-like Jonathan), of the big screen (with the blockbuster Alexander by Oliver Stone), as well as politics: with Nichi Vendola, a gay candidate for the Communist Refoundation Party who defeated moderate Francesco Boccia in Puglia. This is precisely where singer Albano Carrisi (jokingly?) claims that his wife, Loredana Lecciso, should be cooking at home instead of shimmying around in skimpy outfits.
‘Italy, dominated by the Royals who denied their homosexual inclinations and the Christian Democrats who hid them, becomes the country of Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio's coming out and gay policemen on TV.
«Unbelievable,» he says. Franco Grillini, a member of the Democratic Party (DS) and historic leader of Arcigay. "It seems like ages ago, in 1982, during a meeting, an elderly metalworker stood up to speak after me and said, 'I totally agree with Comrade Busone.'" Of course, there are still many politicians who don't come out, and it's rare for a member of the Northern League or a former member of the DC to come out as homosexual. But now there's even a city secretary of the Democrats of the Left who's gay. In Trieste. His name is Fabio Homer. And in Gela, one of the main Sicilian municipalities, the anti-mafia mayor is Rosario Crocetta: a homosexual who fights against homophobic luparas».
However, it remains to be explained that the wave of support for gay programs, films, and trends goes far beyond the personal successes of individual politicians, actors, and presenters. Alessandro Cecchi Paone He puts forward a scientific thesis: «Having unmasked the conspiracy of retrograde culture, we can finally say that no one is heterosexual at 100% or homosexual at 100%.
These tendencies, over the course of a lifetime, can reveal themselves more or less strongly." According to the Mediaset host, Italians appreciate "gaiety" also because deep down they are all a little bisexual.
The theory seems a bit far-fetched. Vendola More simply, he argues that "over the last twenty years, there have been many micro-earthquakes: the great apparatuses that produce the collective imagination have been traversed by the libertarian influxes of gay identity." Grillini agrees with this thesis: "A kind of 'sympathy' toward homosexuals has now consolidated, because they fight battles for the rights and freedoms of individuals that ultimately concern everyone. Not only that, gay men have also helped heterosexual men overcome a castration of feelings that even manifested itself in their clothing.".
Perhaps this is why Milan's runways have seen models casually strutting bare-chested, their butts exposed. Or why prime-time TV featuring "The Fantastic Five" trying to make a former seminarian trendy has become a common occurrence. Certainly, the "sympathy" Grillini speaks of helps us better understand the phenomenon of My Son, the drama watched by eight million viewers, in which an elderly police officer confesses his sexual preferences to his father, the commissioner ("That's just how I am"). This television success makes some recent episodes of homophobia, more or less veiled, seem completely foreign to Italian sensibilities: the firing of Dario Mattiello (for being presumed gay) by Senate Vice President Domenico Fisichella, Rocco Buttiglione's European controversies about homosexuals being "sinful," and Mirko Tremaglia's jokes about "big butts.".
The commissioner of the Rai drama, among other things, is played by Lando Buzzanca, Buzzanca, a militant member of the National Alliance and a macho icon whose role model, in the 1970s, even inspired a comic strip with the unmistakable name: "Il Montatore" (The Editor). Now, in the television imagination, Buzzanca has shed his Blackbird uniform and become the ideal father of a gay son. Vendola stated that his father identified with that character. Cecchi Paone called the director of Rai Uno. Fabrizio Del Noce to tell him: "This fiction is worth a thousand coming outs." So much so that the pro-gay Buzzanca has thrown many right-wing intellectuals into despair. Controversy erupted in Secolo 'Italia, the AN newspaper ("They want to normalize an anomaly"), and Marcello Veneziani, in the pages of Libero, launched an attack on an alleged gay lobby ("If you want to be successful, declare you're homosexual").
Gay lobby? "Let's not joke," says Cecchi Paone, "if there were a lobby in the European elections, I wouldn't have been ousted by my own Forza Italia colleagues. But, above all, if there were a homosexual lobby, there would already be a law on civil unions. Which, however, there isn't." The host of "The Time Machine," which recently aired an episode on Alexander the Great, which opened precisely with the leader's homosexual relationship with the young Hephaestion, maintains that Italian politicians are still far removed from common sensibilities.
«"Francesco Rutelli and all those like him who commute between Montecitorio and the Vatican," he says, "describe a world that no longer exists: one made up only of traditional families. Vendola's victory is proof that people don't find a same-sex couple strange at all." Indeed. But it's also true that the Communist MP is one of those homosexuals who has no conflictual relationship with the Catholic religion. So much so that Grillini jokingly coined a new term for him: "Theo-gay.".
From "Corriere della Sera Magazine" of January 27, 2005 by Luisa Pronzato
THAT TIME I FELT CLEARED
Seven stories of ordinary gayness
GIANNI VATTIMO
«After my involuntary outing in '76, I was a candidate for the Radicals from Fuori!. Unbeknownst to me, I wondered if it was like putting on the Beagle Boys uniform.
And so being a gay and not a philosophy professor. At that point, I was afraid of specializing in homosexual issues. I wanted to continue writing books, and I was embarrassed, wondering whether I'd still be invited to lead seminars on Nietzsche or whether I'd just end up at some gathering of battered old gays. Shortly afterward, I was elected dean of the Faculty of Letters. Well, true proof that the academic environment was digesting it. I felt so liberated that I began to fear it. I was missing that beautiful spirit of being a minority. I'd never experienced real marginalization. Even though I had happened to enter wealthy homes and meet gays whose acceptance depended on class membership and not on tolerance. Marginality doesn't depend so much on taboos as on power. And we already knew this in '68. Now they talk about liberation, it may be nice, but it also means that the system is omnivorous. And I believe that we must preserve that "difference," otherwise we end up in treacle.
FABIO CANINO
I've seen customs clearances grow in small steps. Once, in Florence, a pause actually revealed an opening to me. Let me explain: I had been invited to a dinner. A very formal, bourgeois one. The host, calling me, said: "Come... with whoever you want." […] 'It was who I wanted.' Moreover, even in the invitations of some embassies, to avoid banality, they replaced "and signora" with "and partner." A further step occurred at Costanzo Show where I was invited as a witness to a betrayal. My love story that ended badly was presented, avoiding the homosexual story networks. And not just on the show. In the following days, the women I met at the supermarket and on the street stopped me to show their solidarity, saying, "How badly that guy behaved." They treated my story as just another variant of love, not the unspeakable kind. The real acceptance, however, will come when I'm no longer interviewed about a boy who does poorly at school and happens to be gay.
PAOLO POLI
I was born in the province, okay. But Florence, even when I was little, was an international city. And I was Harlequin ""who confesses jokingly." That's how I've always been loved. My classmates loved me at school. And then people took me for who I was. I have no episodes of marginalization or acceptance because I was born free.
FRANCO GRILLINI
«The time I felt homosexuality was most accepted was during the World Pride 2000, in Rome. 'There were thousands of people at our side. Mostly heterosexuals. Sure, we were forced into a small space in the city. But since that day, many things have changed. Then, the acceptance of the family was also important: I had been working at Arcigay for years and was interviewed on the Rai news for a controversy with the mayor of Piccione. My mother heard me. She called to congratulate me and then asked, "What do you have to do with homosexuals?" I cowardly replied, "I take care of it." But she reassured me: "Franco, as long as you feel comfortable. If you're happy, we're happy.".
ALESSANDRO CECCHI PAONE
«I didn't know people's reactions after I came out because I left for Zanzibar right after. On my way back to Rome, I was curious and simultaneously worried about the jokes and comments. I got into a taxi and the conversation with the driver went something like this. 'Doctor, I recognized you. I haven't studied, but I watch your show because you talk about scientific things and make me understand them.' I thought, 'You don't know anything.' But wanting to test it, I asked him, 'Haven't you changed your mind about me?' And he said, 'Why did you introduce yourself with such a... Forza Italia? But no." No reference. Since I was tired, I excuse myself and curl up to sleep. The taxi driver, however, asks me in true Roman dialect. "Just tell me one thing: after your romantic declaration, how are you?" And I: "Good, like before." "Like before? It's not like men understand each other better. Are there fewer problems than with women?" I reassure him that the problems are the same. The taxi driver continues: "Let me understand: what happened?" I can only answer that I fell in love with my best friend. And he: "And his wife?" I reassure him: "She was sorry the marriage ended, but not for a man, just because it was over." The taxi driver continues: "We talked about it with our colleagues and we concluded that 'the important thing is to feel good. After all, if you find someone good-looking and who loves you, who cares if he's a man.'" At that point, he realizes he's distracted and asks me for my address. I tell him and he: "Listen. We are among men. Can you tell me: is it your address or your boyfriend's? That gentleman, with my "romantic declaration", with the blessing of the Roman taxi drivers and with the continuation of considering me one of the category, had cleared me three times in one chat.
LEO GULLOTTA
«"I said I was gay. I said it because a journalist asked me if I was. And to those who asked me why I hadn't made it public before, I replied: 'No one asked me.' It's not a joke to make people laugh. I have my audiences for those. And after the ""unveiling"" ‘There was an initial blockage among people who feared being identified as close to me. Let's call it fear of contagion. But apart from these, a minority, to tell the truth, were those who felt understood and approached me more casually, knowing that they could find more space with me by virtue of my sensitivity and ability to listen. And not just on homosexual issues. So I have no stories about the legitimacy of acceptance. In fact, to tell the truth, all this fuss over an outdated issue seems more like a dirty trick to me. The axis is shifting where the issue is causing the most stir. The emphasis on Vendola's homosexuality is being confused with the dominant theme. This is how they hide the lack of candidates and the left's wobble. Nothing more than a power game that uses Vendola's gayness to deny his personal and political value.
CONSTANTINE OF THE GHERADESCA
«I belong to a category of freak homosexuals, not gays fresh out of a manicure or the gym. In fact, they horrify me, as much as homosexuals with professions of religious faith. In a backward country that sees the rise of Catholicism, those who are accepted are those who are acceptable not only in Pasolini's films but also on Buona Domenica. The idea of acceptance bothers me. good for families and minors. People like me, more similar to an obscure punk legend like Johnny Thunders than to Cecchi Paone, are left out, and not just because of my sexual choices. I appear on TV, sure, but I have to water down who I am. To be honest, they give me a homeopathic version. And, fortunately, they haven't cleared me yet.
From "Corriere della Sera Magazine" of January 27, 2005 by Vittorio Zincone
I CAN'T TAKE ALL THESE GAYS ANYMORE’
This is what journalist Daniele Scalise, who writes the column "Froci" on Il Foglio, says, annoyed by the "chirping chicken coop" that is rampant on TV.
And he offers his "author zapping" to Magazine. Full of surprises, and accusations. Like the accusation of "telling lies" leveled against Pecoraro and Cecchi Paone.
Daniele Scalise
""Shut his mouth, please. We can't take it anymore. It's a problem of excess numbers. There are too many.". Daniele Scalise, journalist of Prima comunicazione, editor of the column «Froci» on Sheet and homosexual, is "tired of seeing gays everywhere." While the homosexual world celebrates the ratings success of the drama My Son, there are those who aren't buying into the media frenzy and are opposing the new trend. "I don't want to be a snob," says Scalise, "but this squeaking chicken coop makes me nervous. There are those who say it's necessary to achieve normality. That this is the only way to get a law on gay unions. I hope so, but in the meantime, I'm horrified.
Also because the real objective should be the opposite of visibility.".
Meaning what?
""Make homosexuality invisible, ensuring gays have the same rights as heterosexuals. Once this goal is achieved, it would be a good idea for faggots to be completely forgotten.".
Yet they're all the rage on TV. They get audiences.
""Yes. And maybe Alfonso Signorini and the TV show Will & Grace are useful, but most of these homosexual shows and films are aesthetically repulsive. My boyfriend says that instead of taking actors off the streets (like Pasolini did, ed.), now they take them from dog shelters.".
Didn't she even like the TV series My Son, the one with Lando Buzzanca?
«I saw a quarter of it now and ran away‘.
The Fantastic Five, the program on La7?
«I watched the first episode and I'm still laughing: five unlikely faggots trying to turn a woman gay».
They really want to make it trendy.
«"Yeah, by perfuming him like a prostitute, hanging purple brothel curtains on the windows, and placing four candles in his house? No kidding!".
Well, it is said that when it comes to fashion and art, homosexuals have a superior sensitivity.
«"There's nothing special about homosexuality. Is it enough for someone to be gay to become Michelangelo or Nureyev? Don't tell me that lie," Scalise exclaims, surprisingly agreeing with Oriana Fallaci, who argued the exact same point in her latest book, Oriana Fallaci Interviews Herself (Rizzoli International), in an excerpt also published in Magazine No. 2 of 2005.
That homosexuals are appreciated for their freedom struggles, at least he can admit that. Or can he?
""Those who really fight are a minority," explains the journalist. […] Or he tells lies like those of Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio.".
What bullshit, sorry, the leader of the Greens has come out.
«"Yes, but he said he's bisexual. It's bullshit. Just like Alessandro Cecchi Paone's story about trying to convince everyone he's half gay, half Alexander the Great. But you're laughing. It's all conditioned reflexes, trying to claim they occasionally have sex. Faced with all this, I'm going to stop. I feel bad.".
But is there really nothing left of TV production?
""The only masterpiece of the season," says Scalise, concluding his gay-channel surfing, "was broadcast on La7: the serialized film Angels of America. After that, obviously, I'm very happy because many books and columns by gay authors are being published. But I don't know if the presence of all these fags on TV is a positive thing. It could be a passing fad with no practical consequences or, even worse, a new niche where homosexuals are placed and forgotten. The real point, however, is another.".
Which?
""I'm all for beautiful things and I only see mediocrity around.".
Really?
«"Yes. How boring. I'm almost giving up the "Fags" column too.".
From "Corriere della Sera" of January 27, 2005 by Alessandra Farkas
Audiences soar with gays
U.S., gay turns on "The OC," the crime drama "Law & Order," and the "Simpsons" cartoons. Coming out cost Ellen the show.
NEW YORK – Much water has passed under the bridge since May 13, 1998, Ellen DeGeneres, the most famous lesbian on American television, was forced to close her show for "daring" to reveal her sexual orientation on air. "They fired me because I'm gay," the star protested at the time. "ABC gave in to pressure from anti-gay groups.".
Seven years later, only Ellen De Generes has a prime-time talk show on NBC, lauded by critics, sought after by celebrities, and swept by an Emmy Award.
NEW YORK – While the debate continues in Italy over the acceptance of gays in prime time thanks to the Buzzanca drama, in the United States a real race is underway among TV directors, producers, and screenwriters to include gay characters in programs.
Everyone has realized that gay issues attract audiences, unlike what happened until recently. And so in the latest episode of «OC», 'restless teenager Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton) ends up under the covers with her transgressive peer Alex (Olivia Wilde). "I wanted to capture the uncertainty and restlessness of youthful desire," theorizes Josh Schwartz, creator of the cult American high school show set in Orange County mansions overlooking the Pacific. "The ratings don't make the grade.".
Yet the much-hyped lesbian episode brought a stellar ratings boost to the Fox show, which had lost over a million viewers in its second season. "The formula is foolproof," explains Craig Zadan, producer of Chicago. "When ratings plummet, especially in prime time, TV turns to gays for help.".
One of the most successful shows today is «Will & Grace», (nominated for 49 Emmys and 24 Golden Globes), which airs Thursdays at 8:30 pm on NBC and tells the story of the friendship between Will Truman (Eric McCormack), a successful gay lawyer, and Grace Adler (Debra Messing), an interior decorator. Not to mention the success of "The L World" (on "Showtime"), a lesbian-themed "Sex and the City" about the friendship and love affairs of a group of lesbian and bisexual friends.
In «Queer Eye for the Straight Guy» (on «Bravo»), another ratings champion, five gay men give a lucky straight man a makeover. The highly anticipated female version debuted last night. To adapt to the trend, some shows even resort to the ‘retroactive strategy«. This is the case of «Law and Order», which in the last episode of the season (traditionally the most followed by the public), has Serena Southerlyn (Elisabeth Rohm) fired by District Attorney Arthur Branch (Fred Thompson) say: «You're sending me away because I'm a lesbian!».
Gay fever has even ended up infecting cartoons. In the next episode of «Simpson», Homer will improvise as a justice of the peace to officiate the first gay wedding in the history of the series drawn by Matt Groening: the one between Patty Bouvier, Marge's sister and a die-hard smoker, and Patty, a golf champion who has stolen her heart.
After the success of «Drawn Together», the Comedy Central cartoon that parodies reality TV and stars a gay character and two bisexual women, many are wondering if the legendary "SpongeBob SquarePants" is gay too. "It's a legitimate question," writes the Daily News critic, "since the cartoon's protagonist always walks hand in hand with his best friend Patrick.".
The suspicion has sparked an uproar among Christian and far-right groups, who accuse the cartoon of "immoral propaganda" and "polluting the minds of our children." Its crime? Its participation in an educational video urging elementary school students to be "tolerant of all diversity: ethnic, religious, cultural, and sexual.".
