Come out!

14 Giugno 2016

CONTROCULTURA AMERICANA E DIRITTI CIVILI

La legge sulle unioni civili recentemente approvata dal Parlamento italiano si colloca come un’ulteriore tappa di una perdurante battaglia per il pieno ottenimento dei diritti civili. Le riviste della controcultura americana, conservate da Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, testimoniano la profondità storica del fenomeno. In particolare «Come out!», pubblicata dal novembre 1969, della quale riportiamo l’editoriale del primo numero e alcuni estratti grafici e fotografici. Sfidando i pregiudizi e la violenta repressione poliziesca, esemplificata il 28 giugno 1969 dall’assalto al locale gay Stonewall Inn di New York, che darà origine dall’anno successivo alla mobilitazione annuale del Liberation Day (più noto come Gay Pride), i gruppi e le organizzazioni di omossessuali iniziano pubblicamente quella lunga marcia che non è ancora terminata.

COME OUT FOR FREEDOM! COME OUT NOW! POWER TO THE PEOPLE! GAY POWER TO GAY PEOPLE! COME OUT OF THE CLOSET BEFORE THE DOOR IS NAILED SHUT!

COME-OUT, A NEWSPAPER FOR THE HOMOSEXUAL COMMUNITY, dedicates itself to the joy; the humor, and the dignity of the homosexual male and female. COME-OUT has COME OUT to fight for the freedom of the homosexual; to give voice to the rapidly growing militancy within our community; to provide a public forum for the discussion and clarification of methods and actions nexessary to end our oppression. COME-OUT has COME OUT indeed for “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.

Make no mistake about our oppression: It is real, it is visible, it is demonstrable. IN NEW YORK A HÒMOSEXUAL IS LEGITIMATE AS AN INDIVIDUAL BUT ILLEGITIMATE AS A PARTICIP ANT IN A HOMOSEXUAL ACT. Hell, every homosexual and lesbian in this country survives solely by sufferance, not by law or even that cold state of grace known as tolerance. Our humanity is questioned, our choice of housing is circumscribed, our employment is tenuous, OUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD TAVERN IS A MAFIOSO-ON-THE-JOB TRAINING SCHOOL FOR DUM-DUM HOODS. It is just such grievances as these which have sparked the revolutionary movements of history.

COME-OUT salutes militant oppressed groups, offers aid, but realizes that very often other oppressed people are also our own oppressors. THROUGH MUTUAL RESPECT, ACTION, AND EDUCATION COME-OUT HOPES TO UNIFY BOTH THE HOMOSEXUAL COMMUNITY AND OTHER OPPRESSED GROUPS INTO A COHESIVE BODY OF PEOPLE WHO DO NOT FIND THE ENEMY IN EACH OTHER.

COME-OUT will hasten the day when it becomes not only passe, but actual political suicide to speak of further repression of the homosexual. WE ARE COMING OUT IN COMMUNITY, A COMMUNITY THAT NUMBERS IN THE MILLIONS. We shall aggressively promote the use of the very real and potent economic power of Gay people throughout this land in order to further the interests of the homosexual community. We shall convince society at large of the reality of homosexual political power by the active use thereof.

We will not be gay bourgeoisie, searching for the sterile “American dream” of the ivy-covered cottage and the good corporation job, but neither will we tolerate the exclusion of homosexuals from any area of American life.

Because our oppression is based on sex and the sex roles which oppress us from infancy, we must explore these roles and their meanings. We must recognize and make others recognize that BEING HOMOSEXUAL SAYS ONLY ONE THING: EMOTIONALLY YOU PREFER YOUR OWN SEX. IT SAYS NOTHING ABOUT YOUR WORTH, YOUR VALUE AS A BEING. Does society make a place for us… as a man? A woman? A homosexual or lesbian? How does the family structure affect us? What is sex, and what does it mean? What is love? As homosexuals, we are in a unique position to examine these questions from a fresh point of view. You’d better believe we are going to do so – that we are going to transform the society at large through the open realization of our own consciousness.

Dall’editoriale del primo numero di «Come out!», 1969

Guarda alcuni estratti grafici e fotografici tratti dalla Rivista «Come out!», pubblicata dal novembre 1969. I numeri delle riviste della controcultura americana sono conservati presso la Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli.