The game show
host for Affari Tuoi, the Italian version of Deal
or No Deal, has claimed that public network RAI
asked him whether he was gay when he auditioned for
the show. Variety reports that Flavio Isinna's
remarks have sparked a protest among Italy's gay
rights groups.
"The issue of
discrimination against homosexuals at RAI is a pressing
one that needs to be resolved at all levels, from equal
opportunity in the workplace to equal time in the
news," Franco Grillini, head of the gay rights group
Arcigay, said in Variety.
The news comes in
contrast to the uproar created last week over the
network's upcoming show titled Un Medico in Famiglia
(A Doctor in the Family), which
depicts two male doctors living together as a
couple. The landmark show has been slammed by members of the
the country's conservative party. According to
Variety, Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of
dictator Benito Mussolini, said the show was trying to
"brainwash" people with the message "that a normal
family is composed of two people of the same sex." (The
Advocate)