Chronicles of Ordinary Homophobia. Almost a lament

Text by Massimo Battaglio* taken from the ebook Chronicles of ordinary homophobia de Jonathan's tent, April 2026, pp.6-11

This evening I would like to speak to the Lord about some numbers that He already knows, but that many of us and many of our organizations ignore. I would like to talk to him about 2,104 victims of homophobia, 1,521 men, of which 38 are transgender; and 583 women, of which 235 transgender, whom I intercepted in the 14 years in which I carried out the research Chronicles of Ordinary Homophobia, cie from 7 october 2012 to 7 april 2026.

He knows that they do not represent the entire scourge of the homophobic phenomenon, but only that small part that manages to emerge thanks to the courage that the protagonists have shown by agreeing to put their face to it. In fact, it takes courage since it is not easy to admit that violence suffered is due to one's sexual orientation or gender identity. And on the other hand it is not automatic that, once admitted, everyone believes it, starting with the police force.

Some claim that the victims "will be at most 30 or 40 per year." In reality, there are 30 or 40 trials that end with a sentence in which the cause of the wrong suffered is identified, thanks to some attentive judges. In the absence of a law, it can only go like this. But the God of justice recognizes all wrongs, even those that do not have criminal relevance like that of the cases observed.

I would like to talk to him about corporal violence, like that suffered by more than half of the people whose stories I have intercepted, violence ranging from beatings - think for example of that trans girl from Reggio Emilia, kidnapped, raped and finally robbed in 2015 - up to killing - there are 42 cases of homophobic murder that I have had to record: I remember for example the one that happened in San Martino in Rio in 2021, when a gentleman was stabbed by his son who had discovered his gay acquaintances. And I remember the story of Lucero, a trans woman who disappeared on 26 June 2024 in Castel Fusano, whose body was found on 6 July in the undergrowth, in a state of decomposition and with signs of violence.

And again that of Gianluigi who, on 16 July of the same year, suffered a brutal attack during his work shift as a garbage collector in Bari. He died on 28 March 2025 in the operating room after numerous surgeries at various hospitals, due to the damage suffered on that summer night.

Together with him i would like to remember the three Trans women From alessandria, naples And rivazzurra and the four From rome, whose names i don't even know. And then Salvatore from Bari, Lucas from Bergamo, Marta from Brescia, Luca and Luca from Bologna, Maria Paola from Caivano, Antonio from Canaro, Marcio from Castelvolturno, Johanna from Cinisello, Claudio from Jerago, Ximena from Frosinone, Aldo and Alves from Milan, Congliang from Modena, Alex from Naples, Gioacchino from Praia di Mare, Bruna from Rimini, Alessia from San Giorgio at Pertiche, Camilla from Sarzana, Alessandro and Luigi from Siracusa, Sergiu from Spinea, don Mario from Tizzana, Francesca from Vallo, Eghianruwa from Vecchiano, and again Daniele, Mario, Andrea, Bathista, Naomi and Roberta again from Rome.

Now they are close to the Father. I would like to thank him for having welcomed them into his light; the light with which he envelops those who rise prematurely to his glory due to the cruelty of men who do not understand the differences.

Then I would like to tell him some 480 victims of multiple attacks, that is, they affected multiple people at once - like those two men from Bologna who, in June 2024, after having already endured insults and threats from a neighborhood baby gang, saw their house porch set on fire, or the four trans activists who, again in Bologna, were surrounded, insulted and pushed by a group of boys at the entrance to their registered office. But there are those who say that fighting against homophobia ends up hindering freedom of expression. Faced with these facts, I have no idea what can be expressed other than anguish.

I would like to tell the God of the oppressed these and many other things and I should apologize to him if this narrative betrays my anger. He will surely know how to gather it and transform it into new strength, as he did with the children of Israel when they cried angrily before Him on the rivers of Babylon.

I would like to pray for those children and adults who didn't make it and took their own lives, like Ale, Alessandro, Alex, Andrea, Antonio, Aurora, Chiara, Beatrice, Bruno, Ciro, Cloe, Daniele, Filippo, Francesca, Francesco, Don Franco, Gabriele, Isabel, Mario, Marta, Mattia, Monica, Mohammed, Niccolò, Orlando, Paolo, Roberto, Simona, Simone, Stefano, Tiziano, Vittoria and another 30 whose names I cannot say.

But I would be disrespectful to the many whose stories we don't even know because relatives or friends didn't want or were able to talk about it. It is hard for a parent or friend to admit the reasons why a loved one decided to leave the world; even more difficult is to reveal that the cause was a homosexuality not accepted by others and perhaps not even by oneself. There is a fear of doing a further wrong. And so, these young martyrs of hate (often in their early twenties) are consigned to oblivion, a third equally embarrassing wrong.

But to the God of the last, I want to at least remember that 22-year-old trans boy who, on May 27, 2024 in Vizzolo Prebadissi, ended up in the emergency room, was raped by a warehouse worker and, the next day, in desperation, threw himself from the fourth floor. And I would like no one to forget that young man from Palermo who made the whole country cry without anyone saying his name, who on 8 September 2024 took his own life, leaving a heartbreaking letter that begins: "Sorry if I have never managed to love a woman."

Thanks to Heaven - and to the commitment of many - these stories of death sought as a last refuge are fewer than they once were. Being homosexual or transsexual is no longer perceived as a fault, a stain to be so desperately atoned for. However, it is significant that the extreme gesture is often accompanied by a misunderstood sense of religion, as in the case of that boy who hanged himself because his parents had convinced him that he deserved hell, or that seminarian found hanging in the garden near Turin - depression, it was said, but I had met him a few weeks earlier at the counseling center in Arcigay.

The note left by a fifteen-year-old is heartbreaking: «No one here understands me. Dear Jesus, I come to you.» (…)

* Massimo Battaglio from Turin is responsible for the project Chronicles of Ordinary Homophobia on cases of homotransphobia in Italy, whose data is collected online, month after month, on the portalhomophobia.orgDeLa Tenda di Gionata. his ebook Chronicles of ordinary homophobia can bedownloaded for free in PDF format and was made byLa Tenda di GionataOn the occasion ofVigils and Sunday services to overcome homotransbiphobiaWhich will be held throughout Italy in May 2026, as part of thecornerstone 2 Project, financed by the Otto per thousand of the Waldensian Church, and created with the support ofFaith, Gender And sexuality Commission(Fe.Ge.Se.) of the Baptist, Methodist and Waldensian churches and ofGlobal Network of Rainbow Catholics(GNRC).