With Pope Benedict thundering against the demise of the family and lay politicians fighting to keep religion out of politics, the debate took a bizarre turn when a staunchly Catholic politician, renowned for denouncing homosexuality as "unnatural," admitted that she wears the spiked metal chain around her thigh to recreate the suffering of Christ.
Paola Binetti, a government senator and member of the conservative Opus Dei organization, has been called a "sadomasochist" by gay rights campaigner Franco Grillini for wearing the steel garter belt, despite her claim that it is no more painful than wearing high heels or training for an athletic event.
"People are free to do what they want and I don't object to the cilice, but Binetti should not in turn object to two people who want to live together peacefully," said transvestite Member of Parliament Vladimir Luxuria, who said on Friday that Binetti should be thrown out of her centrist party if she refuses to back gay rights.
In addition to the cilice (pic'd opposite), senior members, or "numeraries," of Opus Dei such as Binetti often use whips to "discipline" themselves, sleep on hard mattresses and live in shared communities. Binetti, a trained child psychotherapist, donates her earnings to Opus Dei.
The grey-haired, matronly Binetti said the feeling of the spikes digging into the flesh of her thigh reminded her of the hardships of life, but that it was no more damaging to her health than going on a diet or walking around in winter with her belly button showing.
Homosexuality, on the other hand, "represents different behavior," she said, adding that it is "very different from the norms written into our morphological, genetic, endocrinological and character codes."
At first glance, Binetti and Luxuria are among the better groomed women in the Italian parliament, although on closer inspection there is little of the conventional about either.
Luxuria, whose real name is Wladimiro Guadagno, is a drag artist who has not had a sex change operation but dresses and lives as a woman and represents the Reformed Communist Party.
Commenting on Binetti's donning of the cilice, he said: "If someone is trying to get back to the Middle Ages, it is usually reflected in their outfits."
After Binetti's statement, which constituted a rare admission by an Opus Dei numerary of self-harm, Grillini brought a cilice into the Italian parliament to pass around "to show the absurd behavior of some believers."
Luxuria and Binetti represent dramatically opposed sides in the war raging in Italy over homosexuality, a war in which the Vatican is pulling no punches in its campaign to back Catholic politicians, such as Binetti, who want to prevent the recognition of gay unions.
Luxuria said the Vatican was behind the sudden defection from the government's ranks of Catholic Senator Giulio Andreotti on a key foreign policy vote last month, which contributed to a shock defeat for the government, just as it was introducing its bill granting legal rights to unmarried couples, whether gay or straight.
"It was a trap," Luxuria said. "There was a strong smell of incense in the senate that day."
Luxuria has been subject to attacks from right-wing politicians since his election last year.
"Better a fascist than a faggot," said Alessandra Mussolini, grand-daughter of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and a European member of parliament, during a TV debate.
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