‘Chi parla per gli omosessuali?: the voice of homosexuality in Italian society

Introduction

In Western societies, between the 1960s and 1970s, a concept of homosexual liberation based on identity and on challenging the cultural domination regarding the ways gender and sexuality are organised and discussed started to spread.¹ In many countries, gay and lesbian social movements began to be created, such as the British Gay Liberation Front, the French Front homosexuel d’action révolutionaire, and the Internationale homosexuelle révolutionnaire (Ihr) that put them all together.²

It is alongside those movements that the Italian gay and lesbian movement takes shape, because of the strong connections that the European homosexual liberation movements created with each other.³ In fact, the Italian group is in part inspired by the other movements, which were already active in the 60s, to give rise to the first cohesive group in 1971.⁴ 

The Italian homosexual liberation movement began with the creation of the Fronte Unitario Omosessuale Rivoluzionario Italiano (Italian Revolutionary United Homosexual Front), shorted as the FUORI, in Turin in 1971 by an initially small group of people, which included important figures like Angelo Pezzana and Alfredo Cohen.⁵ The first protest organised by the newly founded movement, with the support of the other European movements, was in 1972 at Sanremo to protest against an International congress about sexual deviances that was taking place. This first act presented the movement to the Italian public, and it was the beginning of LGBT+ activism in Italy. 

The paper sets out to consider the history and development of the Italian gay and lesbian movement focusing on the relationship between the movement and the society in which it emerged, arguing that the movement aimed to revolutionise the social and cultural discourse about sexuality and gender. 

The paper argues that the place in which the relationship is best expressed is in the realm of media sources, as the ground in which a dialogue between the movement and the rest of society was possible. 

In addition to that, the ways in which the movement communicated through the use of different kinds of media, including movement-generated media sources, are investigated as an essential part of the identity of Italian LGBT+ activism. 

‘Uscir fuori’: Public discourse on homosexuality in Italy 

This recent reflection was made by Angelo Pezzana, the founder of the FUORI, the Fronte Unitario Omosessuale Rivoluzionario Italiano (Italian Revolutionary United Homosexual Front), in an interview⁶, and it conveys perfectly the condition of gay men and lesbians in Italy before the creation of the FUORI! in 1971⁷, which was a condition of exclusion from society, and of discrimination and negative portrayal in the public eye. 

The reflection is a starting point for the argument developed in the paper, namely that the Italian gay and lesbian movement was created to be a media-supported movement which aimed at communicating its point of view on the cultural, social and political discourse regarding sexuality and gender identity in Italy. 

As indicated above, the condition highlighted by Pezzana is at the basis of the creation of the FUORI!, and of the whole Italian homosexual liberation movement itself, which aimed for visibility in a society ignoring the existence of gays and lesbians, or in other cases abhorring it and condemning it.
Furthermore, it is possible to say that the condition of invisibility and voicelessness experienced by non-heterosexual people until the 1970s were behind the focus of the movement on communication with the public sphere, in particular through media outlets. 

The features of the movement as media-focused and media-supported are important for how the movement worked on the ground and the modalities it employed to reach its objective, which, as it was highlighted in the first issue of the FUORI! published in 1972, was a revolution of society, and culture regarding sexuality and gender.⁸ In addition to that, it is possible to say that the work of the movement with media outlets of different kinds has been key to the identity of the movement itself, and has remained a constant commitment of its members throughout time. 

To address the connection between the Italian gay and lesbian movement and media, it is necessary to address some of the key aspects of the relationship between social movements and media, in a more general sense. More specifically, it is relevant to look at how media and social movements interact with each other, and how the process of negotiation between the two sides operates. 

One key aspect to highlight is the fact that social movements and media are interacting systems, which not only continuously interact with each, both at a formal and informal level, but they have a relationship of power and dependency⁹, which is the arena in which the aforementioned negotiation takes place. 

This interaction has at its core the fact that social movements need media attention for different reasons, such as mobilization, validation and scope enlargement.¹⁰

Media attention for social movements derives from a variety of sources, such as television and the internet; however, the most relevant types of sources of attention are usually movement-generated sources, such as specialized papers or websites, and mainstream media outlets, like newspapers.¹¹ 

Regarding the main sources of media attention, their relationship with social movements is entirely different. Movement-generated sources are typically a less contested ground regarding the narratives and objectives of a certain movement because they are generated by the movement itself. However, it is not possible to say that there is no contest over meaning within a movement, which could result in the need for practices of negotiation between different members and with the public receiving the source. Another relevant aspect which makes movement-generated resources different from mainstream media is the fact that they are usually more relevant when the general public is already aware of the existence of the movement in question, at least in terms of visibility. 

This difference is relevant because it highlights an essential aspect of the relationship between mainstream media outlets and social movements, which is the dependency of movements on the media for visibility, and the power imbalance that stems from it.¹²

The power imbalance is due to the fact that, as mentioned before, social movements need media attention and the visibility that comes with it. The movements’ need for the services of media outlets places them at a place of a disadvantage because they have less power in the transaction.¹³ This imbalance of power does not imply that the media have no interest in social movements, but that they have a higher value to the movements than the need for them.

As a last remark, it is relevant to note the reason why visibility is essential for movements, which is the fact that “the amount of visibility given to a message increases its potential to diffuse farther into the public sphere”, as it is eloquently described by Koopmans¹⁴, therefore bringing a social movement into the public sphere, and allowing its message to spread, regardless of the positive or negative framing, which refers to ways in which the meaning of a message is communicated, is essential.¹⁵

The history of the Italian gay and lesbian movement, and of its work, is the perfect example that showcases the complexity and depth of the relationship highlighted in the previous paragraph. The interaction between the movement and the media is constant in the history of the movement. It is a key element of the movement itself because of its commitment to illuminate the reality of non-heterosexual people in Italy and to introduce a sort of new ‘soggettività politica omosessuale’ (homosexual political subjectivity)¹⁶ into Italian society, which meant communicating through writing the reflections and ideas of the group. 

The commitment to writing and communication as a form of meaning creation is an essential element of the Italian homosexual liberation activism and it is a feature that pushes even further the relationship between media and the group itself. In fact, it highlights the agency and strength of the movement in negotiating its own framework of meaning, often fighting the framing received in the mainstream media. 

The next paragraphs show how the movement generated its own media, like the FUORI, and how the group communicated with other media outlets.  

The right place to start would be at the very beginning of the Italian homosexual movement because the motivations behind the mobilisation itself and the modes in which it happened are the basis of the group’s attitudes towards media sources. 

Following the definition of social movement, as a sustained and conscious challenge to authority or cultural codes by a field of actors, such as organisations and advocacy networks¹⁷, a concrete and organised homosexual liberation movement did not exist in Italy before the 1970s.¹⁸

According to the Italian intellectual, Alfredo Cohen, the first ideas for a gay liberation movement were sketched at Fernanda Pivano’s house in 1971, during which a handful of what he calls ‘compagni e compagne’ laid out the plans and ideas for what would become the Fronte Unitario Omosessuale Italiano.¹⁹

The history of its creation reveals some aspects that perfectly highlight the nature of the movement as an intellectual, communitarian and communication-based group.  

Its intellectual character is intrinsic to the inspiration of the movement itself, which was intellectual and literary.²⁰ In fact, the small group of ‘revolutionaries’, including Pezzana, that gave birth to the idea of the FUORI were inspired by the authors of the US Beat Generation, to which they even had contact thanks to the already mentioned Fernanda Pivano, who was an important translator of American authors.²¹

In addition to that, it is underlined by the ways in which the movement addressed the various topics it dealt with, which were not exclusive to sexuality and gender. 

Many articles in the FUORI addressed social issues, such as the condition of women in society and the issues regarding patriarchy and masculinity, as in the article “Femminismo e omosessualità maschile”²², in which the complex discourse of the relationship between gender, sexuality and oppression is taken into account, which is a common topic addressed by the paper. On that account, it highlights the aim to actively address the discourse of sexuality and gender in Italian culture, and more broadly in the world. 

Regarding the other two features of the movement, the beginning, and the creation of the number 0 of what would later become the FUORI magazine, is the manifestation of its communitarian and communicative foundation.²³ 

The FUORI n.0, published in December 1971, is the result of a communitarian effort of a group of men and women from different parts of Italy, with different political identities and philosophies, but with the common goal of homosexual liberation.²⁴ 

The content of the number itself is described as a ‘discorso rivoluzionario’, a revolutionary discourse that aimed for freedom through revolution, and not acceptance.²⁵

In addition to the aspects highlighted above, the publication of this number does more than signify the beginning of the movement, it underlines its commitment to being a media-supported movement, aiming for a kind of unprecedented visibility for homosexuals in Italy. 

The importance of visibility through media attention for the group is the result of various circumstances regarding the condition of gays and lesbians in Italy before the 1970s. In fact, the focus on dialogue and on ‘uscir fuori’ was a reaction to the way the Italian public treated homosexuality and the absence of a space in which gay and lesbian people in Italy could create their own identities and engage with society.²⁶

The environment in which the consciousness regarding homosexual liberation arose was one of increasing intolerance by society and by political institutions of different sexualities. 

In fact, even if homosexuality was not a crime in the Italian penal code, it was often punished by different means, like the so-called ‘confino’ during the fascist period and the trials for ‘atti impuri’ in the following decades.²⁷ 

The climate of intolerance worsened in the 1960s, during which a debate about introducing a law to punish homosexuality arrived in parliament, which included not only jail time for the practice of homosexuality but also for the use of any sort of media to defend it.²⁸

It is clear that, while the laws were never passed, the climate was not remotely accepting and that it had become increasingly hostile, including the way homosexuality was represented in the media. 

Between the 1950s and 1960s, the number of scandals regarding homosexuality started to make apparitions in the various newspapers, some famous ones regarded public figures or became important public affairs, such as the ‘balletti verdi’(green ballet) scandal²⁹, called this way because green at the time was the colour of homosexuality; or the arrest and suicide of Adolfo Meciani, for being accused of being part of the kidnapping and homicide of a child, during which he was also accused of having tried to proposition.³⁰

In all these scandals and trials, homosexuality played a crucial role and was used to discredit the people involved by painting them as ‘pervertiti’³¹, therefore putting the person’s homosexuality on trial, and subjecting the accused to a media trial even without any proof, as in the case of Meciani. 

Therefore, the Italian public discourse depicted homosexuality on one side, as predatory, involved in the corruption of children and young men, as many of the scandals and trials were about, and on the other side, as a mental affliction that plagued the population and that, according to psychoanalysis, could be cured.³² 

The social and political environment of these years in Italy, as mentioned above, framed the creation of the movement, which made the FUORI’s focus on a type of homosexual liberation that started with changing the culture and discourse of homosexuality in Italy. The movement-generated source of the FUORI was a way to challenge the mainstream media’s standing and framing regarding homosexuality and provide a different perspective on sexuality to the Italian public. 

In fact, the view of the written word as an essential practice for homosexual liberation was already clear in the first official issue of the FUORI, published in 1972. 

In the article, ‘Chi parla per gli omosessuali?’ Pezzana writes how the FUORI is a place in which homosexuals speak for themselves, refusing to let others speak for them.³³

“

With these words, Pezzana lays down the changes necessary regarding the relationship between the media and homosexuality, by stating that for the first time, the homosexual (l’omosessuale) becomes the protagonist, not just the ‘object’, and that he gains agency by writing his own story.³⁴ 

The movement’s focus on visibility and communication through media sources is not the only aspect of the relationship between the group and media. Another essential aspect refers to the ways in which the Italian gay and lesbian movement managed the dependency and power dynamic of the relationship between media and social movements. 

It is fair to say that initially the movement, which was primarily the FUORI, was intrinsically distrustful of mainstream media outlets. It was perfectly underlined by the article, published in the summer of 1972, “L’informazione manipolata”, which denounced the way in which newspapers, in this case particularly “La Stampa”, manipulate and fabricate stories to depict homosexuality a certain way.³⁵ In fact, the movement was initially more focused on making its own media sources. 

However, alongside the movement-made media, the group engaged with media outlets in various ways, and with its increasing visibility became also the topic of articles of different news outlets. 

One of the ways in which the FUORI engaged with other media outlets was by sending letters to different newspapers, trying to get their writings published.

It was a form of self-advocacy that some members of the movement had practised even before its creation, usually in a sort of protest against a negative framing in the media.³⁶

The novelty in the dynamic is that the FUORI, and the movement more generally, had gained enough popularity and standing in the public to be able to be published more by other media outlets.

In fact, before, many of the letters sent by singular actors, such as Pezzana or Cohen, did not make it into print on the papers most of the time.³⁷ However, after the establishment of the Fronte as a cohesive group, due to its practical work, such as protests and marches, and the homonym magazine’s publication, the standing and importance of the movement for other media outlets rose. The name of the Fronte and their writings appeared across a variety of papers and magazines: in the paper L’Espresso in 1971 a letter of objection of military service, firstly written in the FUORI, was republished³⁸; in another paper, Il Mondo, a letter sent by the Fuori, which argued against an accusation made to them in a previous article, was published as well.³⁹

Considering the position of homosexuality as a topic in the media before the apparition of the Colletivo Fuori, the media’s consideration had changed with the evolution of the movement. 

The work of the group made it necessary for various media outlets to report their actions to their own readership, in a sense giving the topic of sexuality and homosexual liberation a sort of framing unprecedented in Italian media. 

For example, the protest organised by the Fuori in Sanremo in 1972 was covered by all different kinds of news outlets. It was mentioned in the magazine AnnaBella⁴⁰, which was mainly a fashion magazine, and the magazine Men⁴¹, and it was even covered by La Stampa.⁴² And the name of the Fronte kept appearing in various newspapers and magazines until its dissolution. 

In all these articles, what is noticeable is the willingness to give space to different perspectives, by reporting the words of the Collettivo Fuori. In all the examples mentioned above, the negative framing of homosexuality as a perverted practice or a disease was accompanied by the words of the movement, with slogans such as “Omosessualitá è immaginazione”⁴³(Homosexuality is imagination), “L’omosessualità è bellissima”⁴⁴(Homosexuality is beautiful), which proposed the novelty of the movement’s discourse about sexuality. 

Therefore, the way in which these appearances were unprecedented does not only refer to the fact that a homosexual movement had never existed before, but it refers to the new ways homosexuality was addressed. 

The revolution was in the fact that, in the public discourse, a space for the voice of gays and lesbians had been created, and the representation of homosexuality as something to be proud of, and as something joyful was written for everyone to see. 

The new space and dialogue created, thanks to the work of the Fronte Unitario Omosessuale Italiano, allowed the possibility of an enlargement of the movement in other parts of Italy and outside the realm of Fuori. In the 1980s, different groups were created throughout Italy, the most relevant being ArciGay, which by 1985 incorporated most of the other Italian homosexual groups, and the Circolo Culturale Mario Mieli in Rome.⁴⁵ When the Fuori was closed in 1983, these two groups became the main actors fighting for gay and lesbian rights. 

However, it is not possible to say that there was not a sort of continuity in the movement, in particular regarding the interest in creating movement-generated media. 

In fact, Arcigay created the first national monthly gay magazine called ‘Babilonia’⁴⁶ in 1982, and the Circolo Culturale Mario Mieli published the first issue of the magazine AUT in 1994.⁴⁷ While Pezzana with Enzo Cucco created another magazine called SODOMA, in which he wanted to continue the work started with the FUORI, but with an outlook to the future.⁴⁸

The actors and main figures of the movement had changed since 1971, and the movement itself changed some of its tactics, by being less focused on revolution and more on working with the institutions.⁴⁹

Despite this, the importance of visibility and the commitment to being an active participant in the public discourse about sexuality remained a constant for all the different actors that made up the Italian gay and lesbian movement. 

Conclusion 

The paper set out to consider the development of a homosexual liberation movement in Italy and the conditions of its creation. 

The main argument proposed that the Italian gay and lesbian movement was a movement created as a reaction to the conditions of invisibility and voicelessness of gays and lesbians in postwar Italy and that for this reason it was designed as a media-supported movement, committed to change the public and political discourse about sexuality. 

The analysis of the development of the movement, from the creation of the FUORI in the 1970s to the rise of other associations in the 80s, reveals an unchanged focus for the different actors to communicate to the public their perspective through the use of movement-made media. 

Moreover, it is possible to highlight how the work of the movement with the Fronte Unitario Omosessuale Rivoluzionario Italiano brought about a revolution of the image of homosexuality in mainstream media. It was able to create a space in Italian society for the new meaning the group had given to homosexuality, which presented it as something beautiful and natural. The new dialogue and discourse regarding sexuality and gender opened by the Italian gay and lesbian movement was a space where the interested party had the possibility to have a voice and speak its own story. 

The discourse that the Fuori opened is still relevant today in contemporary Italian society, in which the debate about homosexuality is still alive. In fact, while progress has been made, the fight for civil rights and against discrimination is ongoing, as the rejection by the Parliament of a law against homophobia in 2021 illustrates.⁵⁰

It is relevant to address how the discourse has evolved and the ways in which it has remained the same in order to analyse the situation of contemporary Italian society. In order to look at the present, it is necessary to look at the past of the movement that planted the seeds for the discourse to grow.

Bibliography 

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Scalise, Roberta. “’We were revolutionaries’: Angelo Pezzana, founder of Italy’s first LGBT movement.” openDemocracy, 202.  

Archival material

Fondazione Sandro Penna 

“Fuori! Mensile di liberazione sessuale, n. Zero, dicembre 1971 – Archivio.”. 9centroRo. https://archivi.polodel900.it/scheda/oai:polo900.it:212772_fuori-mensile-di-liberazione-sessuale-n-zero-dicembre-1971.

“Fuori! Mensile di liberazione sessuale, n. 2, luglio-agosto 1972 – Archivio.” 9centRo. https://archivi.polodel900.it/scheda/oai:polo900.it:201695_fuori-mensile-di-liberazione-sessuale-n-2-luglio-agosto-1972.

 “Fuori! Mensile di liberazione sessuale, n. 1, giugno 1972 – Archivio.” 1972. 9centRo. https://archivi.polodel900.it/scheda/oai:polo900.it:201694_fuori-mensile-di-liberazione-sessuale-n-1-giugno-1972. 

“Fuori! Mensile di liberazione sessuale, n. 10, luglio-agosto 1973 – Archivio.” 9centRo. https://archivi.polodel900.it/scheda/oai:polo900.it:201703_fuori-mensile-di-liberazione-sessuale-n-10-luglio-agosto-1973. 

 “Due arrestati per i “balletti”, 21/10/1960.” 9centRo. https://archivi.polodel900.it/scheda/oai:polo900.it:206393_due-arrestati-per-i-balletti-21-10-1960.

 “Adolfo Meciani è morto Colpevole o innocente?, in Gazzetta del Popolo, 25/06/1969 – Archivio.” 9centRo.https://archivi.polodel900.it/scheda/oai:polo900.it:204638_adolfo-meciani-e-morto-colpevole-o-innocente-in-gazzetta-del-popolo-25-06-1969.

 “Ermanno morì per una iniezione di droga fattagli da pervertiti in casa del Meciani, in Gazzetta del Popolo, 02/05/ [1969] – Archivio.” 9centRo. https://archivi.polodel900.it/scheda/oai:polo900.it:207161_ermanno-mori-per-una-iniezione-di-droga-fattagli-da-pervertiti-in-casa-del-meciani-in-gazzetta-del-popolo-02-05-1969.

 “Obiettore, in L’Espresso/ Colore, 28/11/1971.” 9centroRo. https://archivi.polodel900.it/scheda/oai:polo900.it:204653_obiettore-in-l-espresso-colore-28-11-1971.

“Collettivo redazionale di “Fuori”, I maschi femministi, in Il Mondo, 01/03/1973.” 9centroRo. https://archivi.polodel900.it/scheda/oai:polo900.it:207429_collettivo-redazionale-di-fuori-i-maschi-femministi-in-il-mondo-01-03-1973.

 “Vaudo Franco, “Sono una madre disperata: mio figlio è omosessuale”, in Anna Bella, Rivista di moda e attualità. Anno XL, n 17, 25/04/1972, pp. 170-174.” 9centRo. https://archivi.polodel900.it/scheda/oai:polo900.it:207274_vaudo-franco-sono-una-madre-disperata-mio-figlio-e-omosessuale-in-anna-bella-rivista-di-moda-e-attualita-anno-xl-n-17-25-04-1972-pp-170-174.

“Galois Silvia, Colpo “omo” al Casinò, in Men, Giornale di cronaca e costume. Anno VII, n. 19, 08/05/1972, pp. 10-11.” 9centRo. https://archivi.polodel900.it/scheda/oai:polo900.it:207275_galois-silvia-colpo-omo-al-casino-in-men-giornale-di-cronaca-e-costume-anno-vii-n-19-08-05-1972-pp-10-11.

 “Babilonia, in Il Manifesto, Quotidiano comunista, 07/08/1982, p. 6.” 9centRo. https://archivi.polodel900.it/scheda/oai:polo900.it:210629_babilonia-in-il-manifesto-quotidiano-comunista-07-08-1982-p-6. 

Archivio Storico La Stampa 

Luciano Curino “Vivaci proteste in strada a Sanremo per il primo congresso di sessuologia”, La Stampa, 06/04/1972. Archivio Storico La Stampa http://www.archiviolastampa.it/index.php?option=com_lastampa&task=search&mod=libera&Itemid=3&action=viewer&page=81&articleid=0142_01_1972_0081_0010_4664831