Borgonovo replies after the indignation over a tweet about his outing

The story arose from a tweet from the writer Maximilian Parente who, on Twitter, brought up, Francesco Borgonova, journalist and deputy director of ‘La Verità’, who would have confided in him her homosexuality fifteen years ago when a relative collaborated with Libero. About 24 hours after Parente’s post and Ignazio La Russa’s reply – again on social media – in defense of Borgonovo, now it is the person directly concerned to break the silence. He began by saying that he would prefer “that we talk about something else, because I think there are much more important issues than what I would have done or would do in my dining room. My opinions are public, and anyone who doesn’t share them can be judged on those. My private is , in fact, my business”, Borgonovo replies to Adnkronos speaking on the social case that has involved him in these hours, unleashing indignation and hundreds of comments.

Parente’s tweet

It all starts with a tweet from the writer Massimiliano Parente. “I want to tell you a little story. It’s called ‘Saving soldier Borgonovo’. It began about fifteen years ago, when I was collaborating with Libero. Francesco Borgonovo was among the editors of culture. We became friends, we went out drinking, until he confided his homosexuality, and also the happiness found with a partner, of whom he felt like the little wife, cooking and cleaning – writes Parente on Twitter – We waged libertarian battles, I as a writer, whose works Borgonovo admired (he was not stupid), for example by fighting the left-wing moralism that attacked Berlusconi and the Olgettines (at the time there was no obsession with the “traditional family” on the right”. Then the critics to the reporter for his ideas: “(…) Then it passed to La Verità, and over time it has embraced every anti-scientific, anti-Western, pro-Putinian, no-vax thesis, against gay families, against every individual liberalism”, continues Parente.

The comments on social media and the defense of La Russa

The tweet surprised users, sparking comments of sympathy and outrage. Among these also that of the president of the Senate Ignatius LaRussa: “I’m zero interested in the sleazy attempt to hit Francesco Borgonovo who doesn’t have to give an account of his life to anyone. My fraternal embrace and my sincere esteem to him”.

A sudden and unsolicited ‘outing’ which could moreover constitute the extremes of the crime of defamation, as there is already at least one precedent in which the Court of Cassation has intervened (judgment of 24 July 2012 n. 30369, which established that “in revealing homosexuality another person in a newspaper is liable for defamation”). “My views, in any case, always remain the same, I don’t see why they should change or be invalidated. And they are neither racist or Nazi or homophobic: anyone who takes the trouble to examine them can easily see that. That’s it”, he says atAdnkronos Borgonova.