ROME – They said it, and they kept their promise. This morning, at 10 a.m. sharp, the authors of the Listaouting website published the first ten names of public figures, in this case politicians, who happen to be gay even though they routinely make homophobic statements.
The names released are Ferdinando Adornato, Mario Baccini, Paolo Bonaiuti, Roberto Calderoli, Massimo Corsari, Roberto Formigoni, Maurizio Gasparri, Gianni Letta, Marco Milanese (who narrowly escaped arrest in the Chamber of Deputies yesterday), and Luca Volonte. The initiative, according to the website's authors, serves to "bring back some justice to a country where some people have no defense against the daily insults and attacks from a hypocritical and malicious political class.".
The outing of public figures is "a harsh but fair political tool" to "make it clear how hypocrisy and discrimination reign in the Italian Parliament." These names could be followed by others—politicians, clergy, and media figures. The gay community is divided over the pirate site's outing lists. Paola Concia, an openly lesbian Democratic Party MP, has already spoken out against the initiative: The list of alleged gay politicians is "an extreme form of political battle." "It's a way of engaging in politics that has never occurred to me, having been publicly battling for years; it's not part of my culture.".
“"A despicable operation." Paolo Patane', president of Arcigay, was harsh in his comments to the Dire news agency about the initiative by the authors of the Listaouting website, who published the first ten names of public figures, in this case politicians. "I'm very harsh," Patane' explains. "This list of names doesn't surprise me, simply because it's a list of names. I find this operation despicable because it uses this tool, that of outing, which I consider wrong. It's despicable because it misleads the legitimate anger of gay, lesbian, and transgender people exasperated by the lack of respect for the law.
Whoever promoted an operation of this kind exploited people's anger and desperation mercilessly. He is irresponsible, without any scruples. Anyone who exploits people's suffering should be held accountable for what he is.
Patane' then makes a historical reference: "This operation reminds me of Mussolini's fleet of 40 planes, presented as invincible, but in fact it wasn't. So much noise and disregard for people's emotions. It's a list of people that proves nothing. It's pure gossip, a trickle of gossip, more or less dirty, poisonous, that contributes nothing to the nobility of the fight for LGBT rights, to people's expectations. It fits into the miseries of our political debate.".
The Arcigay president, therefore, takes direct aim at the authors, "mysterious cyberspace people who registered the site abroad. And this should give us pause: you have no face, no identity; it almost seems like a Boffo-style operation. It's a slapdash outing; it's ridiculous. It certainly doesn't help the community. It's harmful to everyone.".
Then came the announcement of a 'reverse' initiative: "A press conference will soon be held at Arcigay's Rome headquarters to present a list of 10 more people. These are the people who have done the most this year to support certain rights.
This is coming out, but in a positive way." (Source: Agenziadire www.dire.it)
