The floor of the Italian Senate broke out into a battle of name-calling recently after a controversial vote to defeat a resolution of confidence for Premier Romano Prodi — a move that would require him to resign immediately.

When Sen. Stefano “Nuccio” Cusumano broke ranks with his small Catholic political party by voting to defend Prodi, his fellow party members spat on him and yelled homophobic slurs.

The Washington Blade reports:

According to reports in the Italian news media, Cusumano fainted on the Senate floor and had to be carried out of the chamber on a stretcher after Sen. Tommaso Barbato, a leader of the Udeur Party, shouted the word “frocio,” along with other insults, and spat on him. Sen. Nino Strano, a member of the far-right National Alliance Party, joined in by shouting the words “squallida checca” at Cusumano. A newspaper photo shows Barbato being restrained by other senators after he reportedly lunged at Cusumano.

Squallida checca means “squalid fairy” or “squalid queen” and is a reference to an effeminate gay man, according to Georgetown University history Professor Tommasso Astarita, a native of Naples, Italy, and author of a book on the history of Southern Italy. Astarita, who has served as an adviser to the Georgetown University gay student group, said “frocio” is a word for “faggot” in the Roman dialect.

Cusumano returned to the Senate a short time after the name-calling incident and voted “yes” on the Prodi confidence resolution in a gesture viewed as an act of defiance against his fellow party members.

Cusumano has subsequently refused to comment on rumors that he was having an affair with a male secretary, not wanting to dignify them with a response.