To the God of consolation, I would then like to speak about the violence of homotransphobia

Text by Massimo Battaglio taken from the ebookChronicles of ordinary homophobiaDe Jonathan's tent, april 2026, pp.6-8

To the God of consolation, I would then like to talk about the most subtle violence, the psychological one or that which leverages primary needs without piercing the body. I would like to tell him about those 286 people who were removed from their parents' homes or who had to leave before the worst happened, or about the 90 who were fired or persuaded to quit their jobs, or about those who were refused a house to rent or a room in a hotel or a table in a restaurant, or who suffered damage to their homes, their cars or their businesses.

But I should also mention those who have been the subject of stalking or defamation by all means, not least cyber, and the list would extend to 949 confirmed victims and who knows how many were hidden. And then it is enough for me to know that, for Him, the dignity of each of his children is worth as much as his body and that the wrongs done to it are as indelible as the scars.

«Whoever calls his brother "stupid" will be subjected to the Sanhedrin» (Mt 5,22)

Discrimination and insult are no less serious than bodily wounds as they leave an indelible mark on the heart and mind. they Induce the victims and their peers to live in fear that things will repeat themselves and perhaps get worse, to develop feelings of inadequacy and inferiority that will accompany them for the rest of their days.

And it will not be enough to know that "the last will be first" (Mt 20:16). This truth will not be enough to make fear disappear, which is irrational and will oppress all the same.

Yet it seems that some of us, who call ourselves believers, have forgotten this, worried about reducing the Gospel to a matter of tradition and Good Friday velvets, and fierce in demanding that others respect a single commandment, the sixth, "do not commit impure acts", where purity, obviously, is up to them to decide and must coincide with their opinion.

This is not about opinions but about twisted minds. It's about being so unhappy that you want to prevent others from being happy, so weak that you have to build imaginary enemies (gender, this monster!) to have someone to despise in order to feel powerful.

Contempt is little less serious than beatings and cannot be repaired with a fine but only through justice, solidarity and, for us Christians, the ability to sympathize. «Fac me tecum plángere» sings Jacopone da Todi in the Stabat Mater addressing the Dolorosa Mother.

I would then like to say to the God of the afflicted that I find absurd the difference that, even in homophobia, is found between people of male and female gender or of cisgender and transgender identities. "Biological" women who report episodes of homophobia are only 16% of the total while "biological" males are 71%.

Conversely, trans women are 11% and trans men are 2%. The math doesn't add up because our community is made up of more than half of females and only 1% of people following a gender affirmation journey.

Could it be that women are more accustomed to putting up with rather than reporting the injustices they suffer? Yes: homophobia is sexist. The homophobe sees women as an object of desire and little more. The homophobe is not even able to recognize a lesbian woman: for him she remains a potential prey, a servant, an inferior being. The proof?

35% of female victims of homophobic violence were affected individually; the remaining 65% in couple contexts. The homophobe is so primitive that he doesn't consider that a woman might not even be interested in him. He only understands it when he has proof.

And then he leads. And he ends up killing if it doesn't suit him, as happened to Elisa from Carpineto Piacentino.