The city of Padua, northern Italy, is ‘outraged’ after a Filipino gay group organized a drag queen contest in a parish church.

The meeting room of the San Bellino church hosted the event yesterday (10 March). But the local press have branded it a ‘scandal’.

Parish priest, Don Dino Bertato said: ‘The Filipino community asked for and obtained the meeting room, but I did not know what was going to happen.

‘I don’t know if it is wrong or right. It is a very difficult question and I don’t know what to answer.’

At least 300 Filipino people crowded the meeting room. The winner was a drag queen from Bergamo, near Milan, selected by the president of the Italian United Philippine Association, Tadeo Averion.

The il Mattino di Padova newspaper interviewed some locals.

Pensioner Anna Lissadron said: ‘We have been mocked. They did not respect our religious spirit. The parish church is the place of God.’

But teacher Marina Canapero defended the Filipino community: ‘I did not know about the event, otherwise I would have gone.

‘We are in 2013. We can not deny that the times have changed and that now being gay is no longer a crime.’