italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies
Dear Derek:
Sorry for the multiple mailings; it is on page 45 that you quote
Petrosino that “after 1938 the criminal nature of homosexuality was
judged in a political frame as 'damaging to the prestige of the race.'”
Best,
John
On 02/05/2011 05:44 PM, Derek Duncan wrote:
> italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies
>
> Dear John
>
> can you point to where i mention 1938? on page 2 of my book Im simply
> reiterating the information in Dall'Orto's piece about legislation
> designed to protect the health of the race introduced in 1936
>
> Best wishes
>
> Derek Duncan
>
>
> On Sat, February 5, 2011 3:37 pm, John Champagne wrote:
>
>> italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies
>>
>> Cari Amici:
>>
>> I am trying to answer what one would think was a fairly straight-forward
>> question: what was the legal status of homosexuality during the Fascist
>> years? The problem is that my sources disagree.
>>
>> According to Giovanni Dall'Orto:
>>
>> In 1936, homosexuals were declared "enemies of the health of the race,"
>> the punishment for the crime being political confinement.
>>
>> "La ''Tolleranza Repressiva' dell'omosessualità. Quando un atteggiamento
>> legale diviene tradizione,"
>> <_http://www.giovannidallorto.com/saggistoria/tollera/tolle2d.html_>.
>>
>> According to Dall'Orto, this practice lasted only three years, as this
>> method of control proved too complicated and costly; in 1940, all the
>> confined returned home, but remained under the watch of the parish
>> priest, police commissioner, family, and neighbors.
>>
>> Derek Duncan instead argues that homosexuality, re-criminalized in 1936,
>> was recategorized as a political crime in 1938. See Duncan, /Reading and
>> Writing Italian Homosexuality, A Case of Possible Difference, / 2.
>>
>> Sandro Bellassai agrees with Dall'Orto's dating. See Bellassai, /La
>> Mascolinit//à// Contemporanea/ (Roma: Carocci, 2004), 91. Bellassai adds
>> that the confined numbered a little less than ninety individuals, and
>> that a large number of them came from the single province of Catania,
>> where the zealotry of some police functionaries created a significant
>> amount of scandal for the regime. It was for this reason that the
>> process was ultimately abandoned.
>>
>> According to Dall'Orto, The 1931 /Codice Rocco/ *threatened* to
>> introduce anti-homosexual legislation in Italy, but this provision was
>> *abandoned* in an effort to avoid drawing attention to the phenomenon of
>> homosexuality. Giovanni Dall'Orto, "Omosessualità e razzismo fascista,"
>> <_http://www.giovannidallorto.com/saggistoria/fascismo/razzismo/razzismo.html_>.
>> See also Dall'Orto, "Le ragioni di una persecuzione," in Martin Sherman,
>> Editor, /Bent: Nazismo, fascismo, e omosessualità/ (Torino: Gruppo
>> Abele, 1984), 101-19; and anonymous, "La rispettabilità nel codice
>> Rocco," /Museo virtuale delle intolleranza e degli stermini/
>> <_http://www.zadigweb.it/amis/schede.asp?id=8&idsch=189
>> <http://www.zadigweb.it/amis/schede.asp?id=8&idsch=189>_>.
>>
>> Without providing a citation for her dates, Vittoria de Grazia instead
>> states that "in the penal code of 1931, homosexual acts among men were
>> outlawed." De Grazia, /How Fascism Ruled Women: Italy 1922-1945/
>> (Berkeley: U of California P, 1992) 43. On the Fascist categorization of
>> homosexuality as a political crime, see also Giovanni Dall'Orto, "Il
>> paradosso del razzismo fascista verso l'omosessualità," in A. Burgio
>> (ed). /Nel nome della razza:il razzismo nella storia d'Italia 1870-1925/
>> (Bologna: Il Mulino: 1999), 515-28.
>>
>> As you can see, Dall'Orto and Bellassai, Duncan, and de Grazia all make
>> different claims concerning when homosexuality was criminalized and if
>> and when it was recategorized as a political crime.
>>
>> Any help sorting this out would be appreciated. I have also consulted
>> Lorenzo Benadusi's /Il nemico/, but it does not clarify this specific
>> question.
>>
>> Cordiali saluti,
>>
>> John Champagne
>>
>>
>>
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