By: Fabiana Arteta Palomino, Bilge Güven
As part of the Scholars-in-Residence program at the Jackman Humanities Institute, our team of researchers, working with Prof. Frascà’s Queer Italian-Canadian Artists: Ethnic Belonging and Cultural Production project, visited the Toronto ArQuives. Our visit to the ArQuives was prompted by our aims to find further primary sources on Queer Italian-Canadian experiences and history, and to further understand the intersection of these identities.
Daniel Payne (he/him), the Reference Archivist at the ArQuives, kindly helped us with accessing the materials we needed for our research and told us about the historical archives. We learnt that the ArQuives were founded in 1973 out of The Body Politic newspaper collection, with a mandate to safeguard the Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, and additional sexual orientations and gender identities (2SLGBTQIA+) history of Canada. It was the first queer organization to be granted charitable status in Canada, where homosexuality was formally criminalized until 1969.
The ArQuives is the largest community-based LGBTQ+ archive in the world and is located on Isabella Street in "The Village" in Toronto. The first openly gay City Councillor in Toronto, Kyle Rae, was key to finding this home for the archives. He negotiated an agreement between the City and the previous owner – the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto – for the ArQuives to purchase the heritage building at a nominal fee. Councillor Rae then helped broker another deal to fund about half the cost of repairs the building needed.
“We were always struggling to find a home,” Payne told us.
With two offsite storage sites and one deep storage facility, the archives host a rich collection from the oldest documented pornographic film in the world to collections from individual organizations like the magazine of the Fronte Unitario Omosessuale Rivoluzionario Italiano (FUORI!), or The Italian Homosexual Revolutionary Unitary Front.
FUORI! was an association founded in 1971 by a group of activists aiming to battle scrutiny and stereotypes of queerness in Italy. Interestingly, at the ArQuives, there were many mentions of FUORI! as well as pieces of communication between the organization and others in Canadian contexts.
Throughout our time at the archives, our research team was able to find many documents, images, posters, magazines, pamphlets among further valuable sources on queer Italian individuals and communities. The abundance of such resources serves as a testimony to the importance of amplifying the experiences of the queer Italian community as it has made incredible contributions to queer history. This is visible through magazines, such as FUORI! and The Body Politic, among further documents detailing activism against religious ideologies hailing from the Vatican.
For example, The Body Politic magazine – one of the first Canadian gay publications – featured queer activists and activism from Italy.

Pictured here is Angelo Pezzana, one of the founders of FUORI!, protesting against a conservative sexology congress in San Remo in 1972; this protest is often referred to as the "Italian Stonewall". He is holding a sign that reads “Nessuno ha il diritto di reprimere la nostra sessualità”, which was translated to “Nobody has the right to repress our sexuality” for Canadian readers of The Body Politic.

In the same issue of The Body Politic, the prominent Italian LGBTQ+ activist and theorist Mario Mieli was featured distributing leaflets in San Remo.
Our stay at the ArQuives lasted two hours, which we spent analyzing many sources, some of which are pictured below:


The first image above is a letter describing the use of posters for an annual Gay vs. Straight football match held by FUORI! in celebration of National Gay Pride Week in 1981, in Turin, Italy. The poster used, seen in the second image, represents the elements of queerness within the football match while also celebrating the 10th anniversary of FUORI!. The letter, alongside the poster, was sent to Canada to continue displaying this enthusiasm for unity and pride internationally. Our research team found these pieces of media attractive because they show the interaction between the Italian and the Canadian movements, displaying a sense of unity between the two communities.

The above letter, archived in the FUORI! vertical files, outlines the activism enacted by two queer Italians, in Italy, in protest of Operation Soap on February 5th 1981, in Toronto, Canada. The letter presents a sense of unity between both Italian and Canadian queer communities, depicting the heroic actions of these Italian men who handcuffed themselves to the Canadian Embassy in Rome. This letter was particularly eye-catching as it demonstrates international unity and a demonstration of Italian-Canadian solidarity in the fight against discrimination and prejudice for 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals and spaces.

“If it has been decided that the anus is only used for defecating, why does the mouth have other uses besides eating?” is the powerful, and hilarious, quote we found in a 1973 editorial of FUORI!. Although the quote may appear to only have a comedic function, the connotation behind its comedy is meaningful. Using an analogy to compare the usage of the mouth for communication and sexual purposes aside from its main purpose of eating produces a strong argument against homophobic individuals: that gay sex is no different than an additional use of body parts.

The International Gay Association (IGA), now called the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association (ILGA) was founded in 1978 by representatives of activist organizations from 10 countries, including Italy. ILGA held its third annual conference, attended by activist organizations from around the world, in Torre Pellice, Italy in 1981, hosted by FUORI!.

The organization AVANTI was started in 1996 as Toronto’s social and support group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans & other queer Italians. Pictured here is their booth at the 2004 Pride Parade in Toronto, from a photograph held at the ArQuives.
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Our trip to The ArQuives was incredibly enriching. The research team was enthralled by the variety of documents found and their intriguing content. Researchers Diego Rupolo and Marco Amatangelo both shared their sentiments about this experience, expressing how it was “fascinating seeing original letter exchanges with Italy’s FUORI! group” and how they “look forward to visiting again someday.” Researcher Nikki Zhang shared her excitement for the material we viewed, as she “found a brochure that belongs to Babilonia (Babilonia: Monthly magazine of gay culture and seduction), which was an Italian monthly magazine aimed at an LGBT audience, founded by Felix Cossolo and Ivan Teobaldelli in 1982.”
Our research group appreciates the kindness and warm welcome of Daniel Payne and the rest of the team at the ArQuives. We are incredibly grateful and we thank them for having made this opportunity possible! We encourage you to visit the ArQuives for personal research or pure curiosity by booking an appointment.
Works Cited
All images featured in this piece were obtained and utilized with the permission of the Toronto ArQuives.
“Ale'Gay! Settimana internazionale dell'orgoglio lesbico e omosessuale.” (1981). FUORI!. Posters Collection MC 1.1 Folder 6. The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives,
Toronto, Canada.
Associated Press-Rome (Press release, n.d.). "Fuori! (Torino, Italy)." International vertical files - Italy, file no. 8662. The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives, Toronto, Canada.
“FUORI!” International Vertical Files-Italy. The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives,
Toronto, Canada.
FUORI! Mensile di Liberazione Sessuale. Fronte Unitario Omosessuale Rivoluzionario Italiano, no.4, Ottobre 1972, p. 13. The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives, Toronto,
Canada.
“International Gay Association 3rd annual conference.” (1981) The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives, Toronto, Canada.
RJ, Martin. “2004 Toronto Pride Parade Photograph.” Photograph Collection Box 49,
file no. 014. The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives, Toronto, Canada.
Toronto, Pink Triangle Press (1972). “The Body Politic”. Magazine, Vol. 4. The ArQuives:
Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives, Toronto, Canada.
Toronto, Pink Triangle Press (1972). “The Body Politic”. Magazine, Vol. 4. The ArQuives:
Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives, Toronto, Canada.
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