A controversy erupted in Italy on Wednesday when a right-wing parliamentarian outlined his opposition to same-sex marriage and said the Bible considered homosexuality "an abomination".Lucio Malan, 62, is the Senate's chief whip for Brothers of Italy, a nationalist party headed by Giorgia Meloni -- who was elected as Italy's Prime Minister back in September.The Turin-born politician made the comments Tuesday on Rai Radio 1 show 'Un giorno da pecora' after being confronted over his rejection of both same-sex marriage and an anti-homophobia bill which the Senate voted down last October."I [was] against the bill," he said, describing his decision to join Meloni's hard-line conservatives last year after having left Berlusconi's moderate Forza Italia force -- part of Draghi's former big-tent government -- because it had to "toe a line... that was too close to the political left".The show's presenters further probed Malan, who is a member of the Waldensian Evangelical Church -- a small and historically persecuted north Italian Protestant denomination with a liberal outlook on social issues -- over why he would oppose same-sex marriage, despite his own church's acceptance of gay relationships."We aren't obliged to obey [the church]," he replied.
