Gay man is the new governor of Sicily

Wow, this is pretty incredible in a place as conservative and Catholic as Sicily. The world really is changing.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/29/sicily-gay-governor-rosario-crocetta



• Wow ! Just Wow ! For those who haven't seen this documentary, from Donal MacIntyre, "A Very British Gangster", another extraordinary story. He followed during several months a well-know British gangster (Police and the CPR don't manage to bring him down), and he is gay. Everybody knows, no one cares. It gives us one life lesson: being out is the only way, no matter what.

• oh coo. I hope he's ho......never mind

  anon

• A Bottega Veneta bag fell out of that mouth just looking at the photo.

• I get an irascible Barney Frank vibe based on the photo and the interview. He's one ballsy queen.

• This fascinates me. I have laid out a plan for us that includes a place in southern Italy withing the next few years.

  LuciferTheLightBringer

• The mafia has plotted to kill him three times, assumedly because he's "family" but not Family. I bet their concern was that he would govern sissyly.

• Picture it, Sicily 2012, fanooks in the streets carrying on with each other.

  A homo-phobic Sophia P.

• lol, r7

• I strongly urge folks to try the Inspector Montalbano mystery series by Andrea Camilleri, set in Sicily (skipping the first one "The Shape of Water" which is grim and adds nothing as an introductory series setup). I had no interest in Sicily at all before these books, and now I'm quite curious. Salvo's a complete foodie - I'd been known to get hungry reading about his meals, while I was eating myself! The books have been made into an Italian TV series, which I understand has been shown on cable, with English subtitles (and can be previewed at YouTube). Sicilians are more advanced than STEREOTYPICAL (please note that word!) Sicilian-Americans. As with the rest of Catholic Europe (and increasingly the USA), it's only the old people (largely female), and a few younger folks who really give a toss what the Church has to say on social issues. The majority are of the "what-EVER" persuasion.

  He%20Who%20Reads%20Too%20Much

• Not sure that things ha e changed that much. The new mayor has promised, out of deference to his devout catholicism and out of respect for those who have elected him, to abstain from sex for the duration of his mandate. As someone said on another thread, Italy's a weird place, and that old Catholic church has a lot to do with it.

• oops, I meant governor, not mayor...

• I think it may be that the average person doesn't care, but the Church still holds onto its political influence (see: out-of-step U. S. Congress).

• It will be a wonderful ten minutes of power in office before the mob gets him! A new Sicilian record!

• [quote]The new governor has promised, out of deference to his devout Catholicism and out of respect for those who have elected him, to abstain from sex for the duration of his mandate. This is very much a bow to the sad reality of the situation -- and pretty much a game of semantics with and for the benefit of Church officials. Because Crocetta is a "devout Catholic," had he not made the promise to abstain he would be at risk for the local priest, bishop, or cardinal refusing to give him Communion at Mass -- an incident no Catholic politician needs. He may still be at that risk, but he lessened it considerably by prospectively addressing it in this unfortunate fashion. And, make no mistake about it, this is all a game. As extremely disappointing as it is that he felt the need to do this, it is, nevertheless otherwise remarkable that an openly gay may was elected governor in Sicily.

• This is basically a game that gay men play in Italy. Straight men in Italy are a sick and twisted lot. Fat wife and kids at home but screwing trannies on the Via Scopare. Yet, they are all straight.

• ... and priests are celibate and politicians honest.

• Several stereotypes damaged.

• More archaic weirdness - a kiss on the lips a sign of mafioso loyalty. You couldn't make this creepy stuff up if you tried.

  http://napoli.repubblica.it/cronaca/2012/11/20/foto/camorra_bacio_in_bocca_tra_uomini-47050276/1/%3Fref%3DHRESS-3

• Sorry to derail the thread but Luca Zingaretti who played Inspector Montalbano is hot as hell. I would lick every square inch of his body.