Between Sodom and Babylon
Catholicism and homosexuality in Italy through letters to the Babilonia magazine
Abstract
This study delves into the critical moments of interaction and conflict between Catholicism and homosexuality within Italian society, through the unique point of view of the catholic homosexuals.
The analysis takes into consideration a corpus of documents often considered minor: letters to the editor featured in magazine mail sections, particularly focusing on those sent to 'Babilonia', a monthly magazine catering to the homosexual audience, between 1983 and 2000. These letters provide a unique window into the social aspect of homosexuality in the deeply divided Catholic Italian context ( Pasquini 2023). Furthermore, the corpus allows to explore coping strategies as social acts by Catholic homosexuals, including priests, to address stigma and reconcile their conflicting identities. This examination sheds light on their efforts to navigate between two worlds perceived as contradictory (O' Brien 2004; Arnone 2018).
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