The emergence of new social movements focused on gay and lesbian issues during the past 25 years has been well documented in American society. The diffusion of a gay and lesbian socio-political movement in other Western cultures and many developing societies has been the subject of more recent inquiries. This article assesses the globalization of the international gay and lesbian social movement by focusing on Europe and Italy, in particular, and raises questions about the socio-political conditions that might be necessary for the development of a new social movement—one based on sexual orientation identity concepts rather than one based on age-structured or gender-structured relationships. Historical information about social and legal changes in Italy and in the rest of Europe is presented along with current issues facing the increasingly visible gay movement in Italy. What emerges is a portrait of a culture changing and questioning its relationship to traditional patriarchal, religious, and gender concepts while becoming interconnected with global gay and lesbian communities and issues.
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