(ANSA) - Rome, October 6 - Tiziano Ferro won acclaim from
gays and lesbians Wednesday for breaking new ground after the
internationally successful artist became the first Italian pop
star to come out as homosexual.
''I want to fall in love with a man,'' Ferro said in an
interview published Wednesday in the Italian edition of Vanity
Fair after psychotherapy helped him end years of confusion about
his sexuality.
''I started doing a course of analysis two years ago.
I understood that I needed to address a series of issues, such as a forced exile from my family and friends, my relationship with my work and my difficult relationship with homosexuality''. The 30-year-old singer-songwriter has sold over seven million discs worldwide after the release of the first of his four albums in 2001.
He also records music in Spanish and is especially popular in Spain and Latin America, although he also has a strong following in several European countries, including France and Switzerland. ''I still can't explain why I considered homosexuality a sort of illness,'' added Ferro, who will publish a diary he started writing in 1995 later this month. ''I'm not so arrogant as to think I can save anyone, but I'd be happy if my book could help someone avoid wasting all the years I did''.
Paolo Patane', the head of Italian gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) association Arcigay, said the coming out was a ''gust of fresh air against the hypocrisy that leads many homosexuals to hide themselves and practise double lives''. ''Let's hope his example is followed by other public figures who can really help liberate LGBT people from the suffering of lives not lived''. Anna Paola Concia, a lesbian MP with the centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD), thanked Ferro for doing ''a beautiful, important thing''. ''I know how hard it can be to accept and defeat interiorized homophobia,'' Concia said.
''It's important because he's a much-loved artist, above all among young people, and I hope they see him as an example and stimulant to free themselves of their fears and accept themselves for what they are''.
I understood that I needed to address a series of issues, such as a forced exile from my family and friends, my relationship with my work and my difficult relationship with homosexuality''. The 30-year-old singer-songwriter has sold over seven million discs worldwide after the release of the first of his four albums in 2001.
He also records music in Spanish and is especially popular in Spain and Latin America, although he also has a strong following in several European countries, including France and Switzerland. ''I still can't explain why I considered homosexuality a sort of illness,'' added Ferro, who will publish a diary he started writing in 1995 later this month. ''I'm not so arrogant as to think I can save anyone, but I'd be happy if my book could help someone avoid wasting all the years I did''.
Paolo Patane', the head of Italian gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) association Arcigay, said the coming out was a ''gust of fresh air against the hypocrisy that leads many homosexuals to hide themselves and practise double lives''. ''Let's hope his example is followed by other public figures who can really help liberate LGBT people from the suffering of lives not lived''. Anna Paola Concia, a lesbian MP with the centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD), thanked Ferro for doing ''a beautiful, important thing''. ''I know how hard it can be to accept and defeat interiorized homophobia,'' Concia said.
''It's important because he's a much-loved artist, above all among young people, and I hope they see him as an example and stimulant to free themselves of their fears and accept themselves for what they are''.
