Colorful drag queen Vladimir Luxuria says she shares a similarity with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi: they both dab on lots of make-up and wear heels to make them look taller.

Luxuria is Italy's first drag queen to run for parliament. Campaigning for the rights of homosexuals to marry and to legalize prostitution and certain drugs, Luxuria is trying for a win in the upcoming April elections.

"It will be a tough, uphill struggle, but I am not caving in," Luxuria says.

The candidacy of Luxuria, which means lust in formal Latin, comes almost two decades after porn star Cicciolina entered parliament. The Hungarian-born Ilona Staller made headlines around the world when, before the outbreak of the first Gulf War, she offered to sleep with Saddam Hussein in return for Iraq's withdrawal from Kuwait.

Born as Vladimiro Guadagno, Luxuria describes herself as neither woman nor man, just someone in search of a husband. She moved to Rome to pursue a career as a night-club singer and actress, and organized Italy's first gay pride march in 1994.