It was 1988 when Umberto Bindi publicly declared his homosexuality on TV: he did it to Maurizio Costanzo Show and that was, absolutely, the first coming out (at the time a term not in common use) of the history of Italian television. “It costs me a little to say. My diversity has played a decisive role in my career ”, admitted the singer-songwriter, while Maurizio Costanzo explained the importance of that “revolutionary” gesture, done in front of several million spectators. “It is worth saying, so many years have passed. Let’s face it, if it is true that we are a civilized country … “, the journalist urged him, always at the forefront of the battle for rights. And the specific weight of those words was even stronger considering that precisely because of his homosexuality Bindi was not only ostracized in the hypocritical and bigoted Italy of the 60s but even “massacred at the right moment of his career from a hatred that often still today resists against the different, the different who have something more and not something less “, as his friend said Gino Paoli paying homage to him during a Sanremo Festival.
The reaction to that coming out? Liberating applause and tears. A “script” not unlike what happened yesterday a What’s the weather like, when the honorable Vincenzo Spadafora revealed he was gay during an interview with Fabio Fazio to present your book, Without reserve, in politics and in life. “I also did it for myself because I may have learned very late that it is very important to love each other and respect each other ”, explained the deputy of the 5S Movement, yielding to emotion while the conductor repeated embarrassed“ he doesn’t have to explain everything ”. But he went straight: “I also do it to testify to my political commitment, for all those who fight for their rights every day and they have less chance of doing it than I have thanks to my role, ”added the former undersecretary for equal opportunities and former minister of sport. But really in 2021, thirty years after Bindi’s paradigmatic one, the coming out of a public figure it can be perceived as such striking news? Waiting for things to change and for there to really be a radical cultural change, which unfortunately does not go through any bill, obviously Yes. But more than news, it is right to consider it above all a powerful political gesture. In the case of Spadafora because, as he himself pointed out, “in politics homosexuality is also used to hurt, to hit the opponent, with a buzz that I wanted to turn off tonight “(according to the amount of comments, not all positive, generated on social networks, the buzz in the meantime has become a din). Not exactly something original, given that the alleged homosexuality of some politicians was already the subject of violent press campaigns, dossiers and gossip of all kinds (the three Christian Democrats, Emilio Colombo, Mariano Rumor and Fiorentino Sullo were nicknamed the “Sisters Flag “, other than the gossip about the alleged” gay lobby “inside the 5S).
Today, however, to enliven the public discussion and to warm the tone it was the sinking of the Zan Ddl, which has prompted several characters to come out publicly speaking about their sexual orientation even on TV. He did it “indirectly” the senator of Forza Italia Barbara Masini, revealing that she was a lesbian and had been engaged for years during her speech in the Senate during the discussion of the law (caught on television). “I thought I could help the debate on the Zan bill. In my life I have always lived my homosexuality in the light of the sun, but without making too much publicity “, he explained to the Corriere della Sera. But it made a lot more noise the very delicate coming out of Alberto Matano during an episode of Life live, just a few hours after the stop to the measure. “I have experienced homophobia on my skin, so I know what that means. And so I hope that with the contribution of everyone, on such an important issue, there can be a supplement of reflection ”, he revealed visibly moved. Putting one’s face on it is also this. But Matano is not the only Italian “half-length” to have come out: that of Stefano Campagna dates back to 2007, the presenter of Tg1 who disappeared seven years later, while in 2012 Alessandro Baracchini of Rai News 24 revealed he was gay during a radio link to A sheep’s day.
On the other hand, a year has passed since another sensational coming out on live TV, that of Gabriel Garko al Big Brother Vip. “If two months earlier they had told me that I would have done it to Gf Vip I would have replied:” You are crazy “. I didn’t want to do it, then the click went off and I thought: the games are over. False things continued to be said about me and I didn’t want to be dragged into situations that for years have only brought me suffering, ”he explained a few weeks ago FQMagazine the actor, who called his long-hidden homosexuality “the secret of Pulcinella”. For years he had been paparazzi in the company of those in certain tragicomic captions of pink weeklies were defined “Best friends”. “Ma I dream of the moment when it will no longer be necessary to come out, labeling people, looking at the world through the lens of normality “. And perhaps the keystone lies precisely in this sentence: while waiting for the coming out to stop being necessary, it is important that they continue to be there so that those who do not have the strength to live their sexual identity in the light of the sun, find the push to to do it. In the meantime, there is one thing that is striking and it is that Spadafora, Matano and Garko are all almost fifty years old: it is wrong to generalize, but it is as if a generation had to live their homosexuality as a taboo or a private look not to share to avoid cumbersome labels. “It is done but it is not said”, to put it to Paolo Poli.
While Italy is dealing with a much more retrograde and anti-progressist policy than its constituents, television is progressing fasterto. TV as a mirror of the country, amidst hypocrisies, fears, macroscopic contradictions and sudden accelerations. Maria De Filippi has chosen as a tronista Andrea Nicole, which has happily concluded its transition path (on the day of the sinking of Zan on Canale 5, a kiss between Andrea and his suitor was broadcast), and Antonella Clerici did join the permanent cast of It is always noon Chloe Facchini, the transgender cook who until a few years ago the public knew as Riccardo Facchini. No tears, residual controversies. But it is precisely the choices of presenters like De Filippi and Clerici – two who know what audience they are talking to, which is not so obvious on TV – to shape (even indirectly) public opinion much more than many verbose talk shows.
Meantime, young people are once again going faster than many politicians: emblematic of the fact that The College 6 there is Beatrice Kim Gengo, the first participant of an Italian reality show who does not recognize herself in the gender binary. Stuff to make coming-outs look dusty Tiziano Ferro O Michele Bravi, which occurred away Vanity Fair, or that of the youtuber William Scilla, which revealed itself via Instagram in an ironic video (“I like cock, I don’t like pussy”) on the eve of his participation in Beijing Express. They chose the printed media to come out the volleyball player Paola Egonu, the former soccer player Carolina Morace, Paola Turci e Madame (who at Fact explained: “In my growth I want to have the right to try and choose. I said I am bisexual, I am fully accepting who I am. Fluid. If you pass me the joke, you fuck more”). In reality shows, the coming out of Eva grimaldi on the Island of the Famous, while in the salons of D’Urso – another champion of LGBTQI + rights – the actor declared himself gay Gabriele Rossi (Garko’s ex boyfriend) and the singer Letter Frame (criticized for doing it in conjunction with the release of a new single). And while Elly Schlein, former MEP and current vice president of the Emilia-Romagna region, chose The Siege from Daria Bignardi, a Lucilla Boari, bronze in Tokyo 2020, the coming out “exploded in his hands” due to a video of his girlfriend broadcast during a post-race interview. “I didn’t want my story to come out that way. I don’t know how to say, I wanted it to be just a private matter, that it was treated above all as a normal thing “, then admitted the first Italian on the Olympic podium in archery. Because, after all, the rule of “coming out is mine and I manage it” applies.
