Giorgio Bassani was an Italian novelist, poet, essayist, editor, and international intellectual.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Italy significantly advanced in the 21st century, although LGBTQ people still face various challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents, despite public opinion being increasingly liberal and in favor of LGBT rights. According to ILGA-Europe's 2021 report, the status of LGBT rights in Italy is below the standards of other Western European countries – such as still not recognizing same-sex marriage, lacking nationwide discrimination protections for goods and services, as well as not granting to same-sex couples full parental rights, such as joint adoption and IVF. Italy and Japan are the only G7 nations where same-sex marriages are not recognized.
Cordula "Lina" Poletti was an Italian writer, poet, playwright, and feminist. Often described as beautiful and rebellious, she was prone to wear men's clothing and is considered one of the first women in Italy to openly declare her lesbianism.
The transgender rights movement is a movement to promote the legal status of transgender people and to eliminate discrimination and violence against transgender people regarding housing, employment, public accommodations, education, and health care. A major goal of transgender activism is to allow changes to identification documents to conform with a person's current gender identity without the need for gender-affirming surgery or any medical requirements, which is known as gender self-identification. It is part of the broader LGBT rights movements.
Fabio Vittorini is an Italian literary critic, currently Professor of Comparative Literature at IULM University of Milan (Italy) He is known for his studies on opera and on metamodern narratives. He is the author of many books and articles.
Femminielli or femmenielli are a population of people who embody a third gender role in traditional Neapolitan culture. This term is culturally distinct from trans woman, and has its own cultural significance and practices, often including prostitution. This term is not derogatory; instead femminielli are traditionally believed to bring good luck.
Luca Serianni was an Italian linguist and philologist.
Feminist views on transgender topics vary widely.
Diane Marie Rodríguez Zambrano is an Ecuadorian activist and politician who focuses on human rights and LGBT rights in Ecuador. She is the transgender chairwoman of the Silhouette X Association and a representative of the Observatory LGBTI of Ecuador. In 2009, she created a legal precedent in favor of the transgender population, to sue the Civil Registry to change her birth name to her present name. In 2017, she was elected as the first trans member of the National Assembly of Ecuador, and the second LGBT member after Sandra Alvarez Monsalve, who was elected as an alternate assembly member in 2009. She completed her mandate in 2021.
Ingy Mubiayi is an Egyptian-born Italian writer. She focuses her works on migrants and has become a voice of the Italian-African diaspora. In 2004, she was the recipient of the Eks & Tra prize for migrant writers for her work "Documenti, prego". In addition to her writing, Mubiayi teaches Italian and Arabic and has worked as a translator.
Transgender and travesti rights in Argentina have been lauded by many as some of the world's most progressive. The country "has one of the world's most comprehensive transgender rights laws". The Gender Identity Law, passed in 2012, made Argentina the "only country that allows people to change their gender identities without facing barriers such as hormone therapy, surgery or psychiatric diagnosis that labels them as having an abnormality". In 2015, the World Health Organization cited Argentina as an exemplary country for providing transgender rights. Leading transgender activists include Lohana Berkins, Diana Sacayán, Mariela Muñoz, María Belén Correa, Marlene Wayar, Claudia Pía Baudracco, Susy Shock and Lara Bertolini.
The Circle of Homosexual Culture Mario Mieli is an association founded in Rome in 1983 to defend the civil rights of LGBT people and dedicated to gay writer and activist Mario Mieli.
Marcella Di Folco was an Italian LGBT rights activist, actor, and politician. In her film appearances, played in male characters before transition, she is credited as Marcello Di Falco.
Delia Vaccarello was an Italian journalist and writer, as well as an activist for LGBT rights. She conducted lectures regarding journalism in Bologna and Urbino, and edited columns in the national periodical press related to anti-discrimination issues. A self-declared lesbian, in 2005, she collaborated on a project in the municipality of Venice for citizen education regarding homophobia. For Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, she curated a multi-volume anthology on love between women, the Principesse azzurre.
Bad Girls is the first novel by Argentine author Camila Sosa Villada, first published in Argentina on March 1, 2019, by Barcelona-based book publisher Tusquets Editores, which later published it in Spain on June 9, 2020. The story is set in the Argentine city of Córdoba and focuses on the lives of a group of travestis who work as street prostitutes at Sarmiento Park, among which is the narrator herself.
Monica J. Romano is an Italian activist, writer and politician. She was the first transgender municipal councilor in Milan.
Lucy Salani was an Italian activist and the only known Italian transgender person to have survived the Nazi concentration camps. Born in Fossano and raised in Bologna, Salani was understood to be a gay man before undergoing gender-affirming surgery later in her life. An anti-fascist, Salani deserted both the fascist Italian and the Nazi German armies during World War II before being caught and deported to Dachau concentration camp in 1944, where she remained until the liberation of the camp by the United States Armed Forces in April 1945.
Movimento Identità Trans (MIT) is an Italian advocacy organization that promotes the rights and welfare of transgender individuals. Founded in Bologna in 1979, MIT is the oldest transgender rights group in Italy and among the first in the world, and has been at the forefront of the trans rights movement in Italy and in Europe, offering legal, medical, and social support for the transgender community.
L’aurora delle trans cattive is a book written by Porpora Marcasciano, published by éditions Alegre in February 2018. The book features a preface by Stefania Voli, researcher at University of Milan-Bicocca, and published by Amnesty International. It is also used as a textbook in the University of Turin course on the History of Homosexuality.
Tra le rose e le viole: La storia e le storie di transessuali e travestiti is a 2020 book by Italian activist and sociologist Porpora Marcasciano, that recounts fifty years of transvestite and transsexual struggles for identity and civil rights in Italy. The book is about the transgender and crossdressing communities in Italy. This revised and updated edition has a new preface and postface. Marcasciano wrote about her personal experiences as a transgender activist, along with interviews with other people from the trans activist community of varying ages. Through these testimonies, the book covers transphobia, but also highlights the joy of solidarity and shared victories. The title itself, Tra le rose e le viole, is a reference to a childhood rhyme.
