A popular Italian sports magazine has faced a backlash from readers after featuring a gay rugby couple on its most recent cover. The 11 July edition of SportWeek features Giacomo and Stefano – a gay couple who also play together on gay-friendly amateur Rome squad Libera Rugby. The cover features the provocative headline, ‘Who’s afraid of a kiss?’. Judging by the reaction of many readers of the magazine, a lot of people.

“That’s absolutely disgusting,” tweeted one angry fan.

“You’re painfully conformist and ideological,” wrote another.

Arguably one of the most troubling comments was that which asked the magazine, “Tell me how I explain it to my 5 year old son.”

However, the cover also generated a lot of support on the magazine’s social media channel, with many, more liberal readers viewing the cover as a positive, long overdue challenge to the homophobia that often goes unchallenged in Italian sport. Read More