Italy: Names of anti-gay homosexual politicians published

[PhoenixAsh]

Aurelio Mancuso, the president organisation for homosexual equality (Equality Italia) has announced that names of homosexual politicians whose voting behaviour is openly anti homosexual....more specifically it will announce ten names of politicians who, in June, voted against an anti-homophobic law but are homosexual themselves...will be published online on an independent website.

Mancuso openly supports the idea but has said that the website itself is operated by anonimous people who are not officially tied to Equality Italia.
He hopes the publishing of these names will expose political hypocracy and discrimination and will unearth the depth of hetronormativity in Italy.

The law in June proposed that violence because of sexual orientation should be considered as agravating circumstances.

The website will publish hunderds of names in the comming month of politicians (in parliament, senate and government) and will show other businesses, sports activities and religious views of those invloved.

The largest national organisation for homosexuals (ARCI-gay) has called this action a "vulagar mudslinging campaign which violates privacy"



Your thoughts?

[TheGodlessUtopian]

I think it is good.The more of the hypocrites who are revealed the better.Such people disgust me and having their faces exposed to the light probably won't change much but it will be a bit of reality to shake up the bigots day.

[PhoenixAsh]

The concept of this is not new. The idea of exposing openly anti-LGBTQ politicians who are themselves homosexual is already been put in practice in the US. It has led to the resignation of several Republican politicians...and one or two who openly admitted they were gay and changed their voting behaviour. There is even a movie about it..."Outrage"

The concept of privacy for politicians who openly judge and moralise about the private lives of hunderds of thousands of people who do not adhere to hetronormativity is in my opinion laughable. Not to mention the fact that these politicians openly betray their sexual orientation and lie to the public. Maybe to protect themselves in a hetronormative world..but that is no excuse.

Now...that last one is not new. Politicians lie, we know all this. But when you lie about your moral and ethical conduct and pretend to adhere to certain ideas, to which you do not adhere and force others to live their lives according to norms and regulations and be somebody they are not... Then you are simply looking for power over the backs of others by pandering to the hetronormative religious and seculiar concepts which villifies LGBTQ people and contributes to their continued discrimination and repression.

Now I fully understand there may be repercussions for some of those involved...I am aware that this is a tricky idea and concept which should be handled with care....but so far I understand the action. I understand the moivation and I support the idea to fight back.

[blake 3:17]

I think it`s fair.

[Revolution Colorado]

Hello Comrades, I wanted to say that in a way we are all like the KGB of the Soviet Union. We expose our enemies and hypocrits for who they are. I have found out from one our enemies' websites that they are killing so called illegal Mexican immigrants in Arizona and that site is the NSM website, I was horrified to find this out. I thought and dreamed of having an operation of our own to rescue these innocent people and liberate the deserts of our enemies. These immigrants are people too damn it. You can see for yourselves at the NSM website and you'll be sickened too. Being a Progressive Labor Party member, they tipped me off to the NSM's actions so you can check the PLP website for their important piece of info.

Communism Forever

Comrade Wade of Colorado

[Smyg]

Personally I'm all for exposing hypocrites.

[Queercommie Girl]

Question: Would we be equally willing to expose queerphobic Marxist politicians, or are such tactics only reserved for the bourgeois?

[PhoenixAsh]

Question: Would we be equally willing to expose queerphobic Marxist politicians, or are such tactics only reserved for the bourgeois?

Personally I would argue that all hyprocrtites should be exposed regardless of politics...

When I think about it...personally...I think one could make a fair argument why we should be especially determined to expose them in our own midst....

That said I think we should be very worried about our own groups when a queerphobic marxist/anarchists gets in a position of influence in which he or she can influence decision making. Let alone when an anarchist/Marxist LGBTQ feels the need to hide their true identity and act as a queerphobic hetrosexual. That would be real cause for concern!

[Queercommie Girl]

Personally I would argue that all hyprocrtites should be exposed regardless of politics...

When I think about it...personally...I think one could make a fair argument why we should be especially determined to expose them in our own midst....

That said I think we should be very worried about our own groups when a queerphobic marxist/anarchists gets in a position of influence in which he or she can influence decision making. Let alone when an anarchist/Marxist LGBTQ feels the need to hide their true identity and act as a queerphobic hetrosexual. That would be real cause for concern!

Although I am critical of anarchism in many ways, it is on issues like this when I become quite sympathetic towards you anarchists. You are fearless of any kind of authority, even our own ones.

I do prefer the general politico-economic analysis and strategic approach of Leninism, but to be frank one problem with some Leninists (in the broad sense, including both Trotskyists and Stalinists/Maoists) is that in this day and age they still have too much of a tendency to bow down in front of some kind of bronze statue or bust...

[Lobotomy]

Sure, why not? IMO if you're going to have a significant amount of power over the masses, you are forfeiting your right to privacy and we have every right to explore your personal life and expose it if necessary.

What I don't understand is why this is such a common phenomenon (that is, hypocrisy of politicians when it comes to sexuality).

[Red Commissar]

They've released the first batch of names. They are 10 politicians.

1. FERDINANDO ADORNATO: He's an MP for the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats from Abruzzo, which cooperates with Berlusconi's "People of Freedom". He began off as a member of the PCI before its collapse, went with other reformists into the Democratic Party, and then in the late 90s moved to the centre and ultimately to his current position. He owns a newspaper in Italy called "The Liberal", which 'analyzes' similar centre-right movements in Europe and the United States.

2. MARIO BACCINI: UCD MP representing Lazio. From 2004-2006 he was minister of Public Administration in the Berlusconi government, and from 2006-2008 VP of the Italian senate. He is currently with the People of Freedom party.

3. PAOLO BONAIUTI: He is a member of Berlusconi's "People of Freedom", and acts as Berlusconi's spokesperson and secretary to him. He has been with Berlusconi for a long time, having been a member of Berlusconi's Forza Italia before the creation of the People of Freedom. He is an MP from Tuscany.

4. ROBERTO CALDEROLI: He is a member of Lega Nord and a head of a department for Berlusconi's attempts at deregulating and 'simplifying' the economy. He also has some strong, negative opinions on the Roma situation in Italy and Islam in Europe. Is also a Senator representing Lombardy.

5. MASSIMO CORSARO: A People of Freedom MP from Lombardy. Originally a member of the neo-Fascist "Italian Social Movement" before it merged into the National Alliance, and later into Berlusconi's "People of Freedom" in 2009. He holds a number of positions within the People of Freedom with regards to budgeting.

6. ROBERTO FORMIGONI: Began off in the Christian Democrats before its numerous merges and changes into the final end- Berlusconi's People of Freedom. He is the president of the Lombardy (capital is Milan) region. In his capacity as president of Milan he's been accused of using a spoils/patronage system as well as a number of controversial projects, as well as funding for religious/private schools. Earlier in this year he sent a letter to all the 'Catholics' of his region to stand with Berlusconi despite all the unsavory accusations of prostitution coming out against him.

7. MAURIZIO GASPARRI: Began his political activities in the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement, starting in their youth wing and ultimately an MP with them from 1992-1994. Like Corsaro above, he followed the group into its merger with the National Alliance and ultimately the People of Freedom. From 2001-2005 he was the minister of telecommunications, and introduced a law to 'reform' telecommunications which critics blasted for making it easier for corporations to consolidate control, have more advertising, and generally a better benefit for Berlusconi. With Formingoni, he signed the letter to 'Catholics' to stand with Berlusconi despite his social behaviors. He is currently a Senator from Lazio, and leads the People of Freedom delegation there.

8. GIANNI LETTA: He started off as a journalist and in the 1990s Berlusconi brought him into government, and he would continue being in Berlusconi's government in some capacity, and like Bonaiuti has a position in the management of the Council of Ministers. Has been accused of abuse of office, corruption, and the like. He comes from a political family since his nephew is the treasurer for the centre-left "Democratic Party".

9. MARCO MILANESE: A People of Freedom MP from Campania, works in the Chamber of Deputies with financial and treasury related bills.

10. LUCA VOLONTE’: He's a UDC MP from Lombardy, which works with Berlusconi's People of Freedom. He is representing their party in the European Council.

What I find interesting is a good chunk of these guys are related in some way to Lombardy. Berlusconi's got a powerful political machine there so it's apparent that most of them were careerists. I took some of this information off the Italian wikipedia, with the exception of Milanese which I had to dig through the Chamber of Deputies site. All their pages on the Italian wikipedia are currently locked and protected- where as other politicians are not. This is probably due to this outing.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Question: Would we be equally willing to expose queerphobic Marxist politicians, or are such tactics only reserved for the bourgeois?

Everyone, regardless of ideology identification, should be exposed for who they are.

[socialistjustin]

I can understand the fear of coming out as I was extremely private with being bisexual for awhile telling nobody, but I also understand and am probably more sympathetic to those who want to expose hypocrites who make it even harder to deal with their sexuality. People who advance anti gay agendas while being homosexual themselves are pretty pathetic.

[PhoenixAsh]

Although I am critical of anarchism in many ways, it is on issues like this when I become quite sympathetic towards you anarchists. You are fearless of any kind of authority, even our own ones.

I do prefer the general politico-economic analysis and strategic approach of Leninism, but to be frank one problem with some Leninists (in the broad sense, including both Trotskyists and Stalinists/Maoists) is that in this day and age they still have too much of a tendency to bow down in front of some kind of bronze statue or bust...

The problem with some ML streams/induviduals is that they are too loyal to their own party structure and sometimes that can border on unquestioning loyalty. I have no problems with certain aspects of loyalty or democratic centralism especially where it is used to maintain cohesion and unity against the capitalists and fascists...we use a derivitive of it ourselves in our group and have created a mix of direct democracy and DC. But it should not and can not be used as a veil to hide our own faults.

Even in Anarchist groups this problem of LGBTQ-fobia and Sexism can exist. And Anarchists have their own set of problems to deal with. We have had a discussion thread on this a few months back in which the latent and conditioned sexism in revolutionary groups was adressed....so Anarchism is certainly and unfortunately not free of this problem either.

As an example...in our group there is one who is not LGBTQ-phobic but is often very insensitive about them. Not because he rejects the idea of sex and gender equality but because he is largely conditioned by a strict hetronormative upbringing....and on many issues he is still ignorant. He has often no idea he is doing that or that his opinions and reactions are often insulting. So we try to educate him but it is a lengthy process because not everybody gets it in one go. In the meantime he can never hold a position of any influence. We simply will not allow that to happen. Funny part...his sister recently outed herself. So that helped a bunch and he is now extremely careful and thoughtful about it.

If somebody feels that they can not freely behave towards their own sexuality then something is fundamentally flawed in a movement or group....some groups recognize this and are alert to the issue. And some often do not even understand or recognize that they are doing this.

So we have to be especually alert when it comes to our own groups. This is not an issue which only exists in burgeoisie politics....the hetronormative conditioning has influenced everybody and has affected us all in some way or another.

[Queercommie Girl]

As an example...in our group there is one who is not LGBTQ-phobic but is often very insensitive about them. Not because he rejects the idea of sex and gender equality but because he is largely conditioned by a strict hetronormative upbringing....and on many issues he is still ignorant.

I think on RevLeft sometimes it's the same. There aren't really anyone here who is explicitly homophobic or transphobic (those that are explicitly so are usually pretty quickly banned or restricted), but there are some people here who are rather insensitive about LGBT issues.

[Revolution Colorado]

I have the name of the head of the NSM too. The name is Jeff Shoep, he is the so called commader of the NSM. He is another name you can add to your list even though you guys are talking about Italian leaders. I would put this person as a high value target if you know what I mean. Just doing my job as a Red soldier and spy for us all.

Communism Forever

Comrade Wade/Jen of Colorado

P.S. If you look at my profile, I am a woman in a man's body and I am not afraid to say it.