In the world of football, being homosexual is worse than missing an empty goal at the last minute of play. Rosario Coco, born in Catania, knows this well, who in 2014, at the age of 29, decided to make his first coming out with his teammates from Roma Ostia Antica, who played in the Third category. “I want to lose the title of being the first Italian footballer registered with the FIGC to have declared his homosexuality” he says with irony Rosario, that tomorrow (Sunday 31 October), a few days after the rejection of the Zan bill, he will marry, with a civil union, in Rome, with his American companion. American President Joe Biden was also invited to the ceremony, in the capital for the G20.
«It was an idea of Franco Grillini (president of Gaynet and historical LGBTIQ activist) who wrote an open letter – says Rosario – to sensitize institutions on LGBTIQ rights. Biden just elected has put in place concrete policies in this sense, and we expect a response from him or the American embassy to stimulate our policy to take a stand. Draghi hasn’t said anything about the Zan law, I invite him to do more ». It will be Grillini himself who will celebrate the union.
Rosario, who is also Gaynet’s national secretary, remembers the first time he took a stand on homosexuality in the locker room. “A teammate of mine said he had had sex with transsexuals and they were making fun of him. I defended him and they were all speechless. From that moment on, some created a barrier, others started joking about it, but I turned the jokes around ”, explains Rosario. “I am an activist, but for those who are not, it is almost impossible to challenge the macho culture, not only in football.” Then, when he moved to Atletico San Lorenzo, things improved: “The joke became positive, they were curious.” Rosario also helped found the gay-friendly amateur team Lupi Roma Outsport, which is linked to the European Outsport project and the first research on homotransphobia and sport in Europe. «According to the research, 41% of LGBTI sportspeople in Italy do not reveal their sexual orientation – underlines Rosario – while 60% of those who practice sports perceive the use of a homo-transphobic language. It is a question of the absence of inclusion, not just of violence. The homosexual sportsman has to be stronger to reply to the jokes, but it does not necessarily mean that he is. Football – he explains – must realize this, starting with the coaches of the little ones and the jokes “you are a tomboy” or “you are a sissy” ». But the rejection of the Zan bill «brings us back, those who would like to have laws won as there are in Poland or in Orbàn’s Hungary».
The sunken law is «the mirror of a country divided in two: a piece of society that took to the streets to protest and another piece that remained behind. But the latter is detached from the new generations, who are the majority to support the law ”.
© All rights reserved
–
