ROME, Italy — An official of the Italian Carabinieri — the national police of Italy — on Wednesday issued a public apology and after being forced to change a training manual that listed homosexuality as a “sexual deviance” in the same category as bestiality and incest and necrophilia.
It was “an unfortunate mistake,” said the Carabinieri’s commander, General Leonardo Gallitelli, adding that the text “was based on an obsolete formula.”
The 585-page manual — which was being used to prepare candidates for the officer exams — included this passage:
“The main sexual deviances are homosexuality, exhibitionism, fetishism, sadism, incest and bestiality.”
Gallitelli quickly apologized after an outcry from Italian LGBT advocacy groups, and said the offending passage was “immediately cancelled.”
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Paolo Patane, Executive Director of Arcigay, an LGBT advocacy group, said the original passage was “incredible,” but that he was “pleasantly surprised” by the correction.
A Member of the Italian Parliament, Paola Concia, who is openly lesbian, called the reference “shameful,” and said that considering homosexuality as a type of deviant behavior “goes against all the laws of the state.”
