Italian Gay Movement

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Introduction for Italian Gay Movement

During the 1970s, 80s, and 90s I visited Italy’s gay bookshops in Milano and Roma, as well as the offices of Babilonia (Milano) and the gay center in Bologna. The Glad Day Bookshops had a fairly large selection of Italian gay titles, including around 20 by Pier Paolo Pasolini and all publications by Babilonia. The Italian gay magazine is still published today.

My efforts to include Italian gay literature at the Glad Day Bookshops began with the publication of “FUORI” in 1972. This was a radical gay magazine somewhat similar to The Body Politic and Fag Rag. The  collective that published the magazine called themselves the Fronte Unitario Omosessuale Rivoluzionario Italiano. In those early days I met Angelo Pezzana, one of the Collective members. A few years later I became friends with Giovanni dall’Orto who helped educate me about gay Italian writers.