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 1 ...

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 neces ...

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 ...

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 Time ...

and Italian activist Mario Mieli. 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 mo ...

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