Vladimir Luxuria, a 40-year-old performer and gay rights activist born Wladimiro Guadagno, was on course to become Italy's first transgender member of parliament after elections scheduled for 9-10 April 2006. Running for the Refounded Communist Party in a reliably left-wing Rome constituency, his seat was considered all but assured.
Luxuria, who identifies as transgender rather than transsexual and has not had surgery, said his legislative priorities would include gay rights, legal recognition for same-sex couples, and advocacy for economically vulnerable citizens. "I will not be representing only the gay community," he told AFP, noting that his supporters included women, retirees, and working families.
His candidacy drew attacks from across the political spectrum. UDC leader Pier Ferdinando Casini mocked him at a Berlusconi coalition rally while opposing same-sex union legislation. Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of the late dictator, declared on television that it was better to be fascist than gay. Northern League official Roberto Calderoli joked that parliament would need a third restroom. Even a member of Luxuria's own center-left bloc, Clemente Mastella of the Catholic party Udeur, compared him unfavorably to a porn star who had won a parliamentary seat in 1988.
Originally from a small village in Puglia, Luxuria moved to Rome 20 years earlier and said he had developed a calm response to personal insults, preferring to face critics directly rather than react with anger.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in April 2006, in its own words.