Massimo Consoli (12 December 1945 – 4 November 2007) was known as "the father of the
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...
movement".
Besides being an activist, he was also an
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...
and an historian. In 1998, the State Archive of Italy's Ministry of Culture acquired his extensive archive of Italian gay activist history.
He wrote more than 30 books, mostly on gay issues, including works on German authors
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (28 August 1825 – 14 July 1895) was a German lawyer, jurist, journalist, and writer who is regarded today as a pioneer of sexology and the modern gay rights movement. Ulrichs has been described as the "first gay man in w ...
and
Kurt Hiller
Kurt Hiller (17 August 1885, Berlin – 1 October 1972, Hamburg) was a German essayist, lawyer, and expressionist poet. He was also a political (namely pacifist) journalist.
Hiller came from a middle-class Jewish background. A communist, he ...
. He was a close friend of American author and activist
Vito Russo
Vito Russo (July 11, 1946 – November 7, 1990) was an American LGBT activist, film historian, and author. He is best remembered as the author of the book '' The Celluloid Closet'' (1981, revised edition 1987), described in ''The New York Tim ...
and Italian activist
Mario Mieli
Mario Mieli (21 May 1952, Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper h ...
.
He was also the editor of two publications: Rome Gay News and O-MPO: organo del Movimento politico degli omosessuali.
These publications covered many aspects of gay political and social life in Italy beginning in 1975 through the 1990s, including multiple special issues on the AIDS crisis.
Consoli died on November 4, 2007 of
colon cancer
Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...
.
References
External links
Repubblica.it
1945 births
2007 deaths
Italian gay writers
Italian LGBT rights activists
Deaths from cancer in Lazio
Deaths from colorectal cancer
LGBT history in Italy
20th-century Italian LGBT people
21st-century Italian LGBT people
{{LGBT-activist-stub