ITALY: ANGELO PEZZANA
ANGELO PEZZANA Angelo Pezzana was one of the most important figures in the gay rights movement in Italy. At a time when homosexuality was considered a perversion to be hidden, Pezzana made the voice of the LGBT world heard for the first time in public opinion. This, in the Italy of the time, caused him numerous enmities and attacks. In the country there were strong communist parties or parties of neo-fascist inspiration which, despite the political opposition, share strong homophobic sentiments and in contrast to individual freedom. Born in the province of Vercelli, after graduating he cultivated a passion for Jewish studies and worked as a bookseller in Turin (his was the historic Luxemburg bookshop, the subject of an anti-Semitic attack in 1988). A declared homosexual, he came out publicly and - despite a university professor friend of his advised him to continue in hiding - he decided to found an association that fought for gay rights: in 1971 the Italian Revolutionary H