Dialogue a weapon against discrimination says gay footballer

(ANSA) – Brindisi, December 12 – Dialogue is the only worthy weapon against discrimination, gay beauty-contest winner and former footballer Giovanni Licchello told hotel and catering students in the southern Italian city of Brindisi two days ago.

Licchello, 26, won the 17th annual Mr Gay Italy 2013 beauty contest in September.

Finalist Hussyien Adnan, an Iraqi citizen who was beaten and threatened with death after he came out to his family, won a special prize for courage in the same contest. The former footballer impressed the jury at the time not only because of his beauty, but also because of a scar on his eyebrow, which he earned while defending a friend who was being gay-bashed in a heterosexual club.

“I want to be useful to all the young people who live in my city and who like me, find themselves facing the same cultural hardships as I did growing up”, said Licchello, who played on teams including Brindisi, Chieti, and FC Sion from Switzerland.

” Dialogue must be the only real protagonist against all forms of discrimination”.