Italian Performer Sings Story of Conversion from Homosexuality at Music Festival
Homosexual activists enraged; complaint filed with European Court of Human Rights
By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman
SANREMO, ITALY, January 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Italian singer Giuseppe Povia is making waves in Italy with his new song recounting the conversion of a homosexual to heterosexuality.
The piece, "Lucas Was Gay," which is to be performed for the first time at the Sanremo Festival in Sanremo, Italy on February 21, tells the true story of Luca di Tolve, a young man who recently spoke of his conversion in the Italian newspaper Il Giornale.
Tolve attributes his former homosexuality to the divorce of his parents during his childhood, when his father left. "I remained alone in a feminine environment, playing with dolls. It is a mistake to believe that people are born gay," he said in the interview. "You fall in love with a man because that is what you would have wanted to be."
"Homosexuals experience a frenetic emotional nomadism," he went on to say. "It is understandable, like anyone, they look for something different from themselves. If in the other they find only something similar, the relationship can't be more than fleeting and compulsive. Stability and fidelity can't exist in the gay world."
Povia stated last December that he has converted two homosexual friends to heterosexuality, both of whom are now married, and said that "one is not born homosexual, but is converted to it." He is also known to have participated in the 2007 Family Day in Rome, organized to defend the right to life and family values.
Homosexual activists, enraged by Tolve's account and Povia's song, have accused Tolve of lying, and have begun a Facebook account to bring together those who wish to prevent Povia from singing at the Sanremo Festival. The organization "Arcigay" has reportedly threatened to disrupt the event.
In addition, European Parliament Deputy Vittorio Agnoleto has reportedly presented the case to the European Court of Human Rights and has asked the Parliament to review the song, claiming that its lyrics constitute a violation of the rights of homosexuals.
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