Press Release from Arcigay Federico Garcia Lorca – Salerno
Salerno, January 31, 2005
ON THE MUNICIPALITY'S MORAL SPONSOR OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE BOOK "THE MAN JESUS LOVED" BY GIANNI DE MARTINO
Gianni De Martino's book, “The Man Jesus Loved” (Ed. Croce, 2004), is an analyzer, a litmus test that brings to light the unsaid, 'unconscious' part of groups and institutions.
The analyzers, generally always present but inactive in groups, are sex and money: touch on these two topics and you will see the unsaid (also in the Freudian sense) and the contradictions emerge.
The book is therefore an analyzer of both the political reality of Salerno and the unspoken contradictions that agitate that community of false progressivism and false acceptance.
The book should be read and meditated upon calmly and quietly, not exploited for extra-cultural and extra-literary reasons. However, "we must not avoid conflict," states Gianni De Martino, who translated "Essay on Trance," a work by Georges Lapassade, the founder of the French psychosociological movement known as Institutional Analysis, for Feltrinelli. "Jesus also carries the sword, and in conflict, the possibility of uncovering hypocrisy and clarification also emerges.".
This is the Salerno political-media circus. We've been subjected to a series of insults in the press in recent days. We can't remain silent.
We denounce an unsigned article published in the Salerno newspaper "Cronache del Mezzogiorno" on January 27, 2005, which outraged us and offended our dignity as human beings, first and foremost. We want to denounce this article, which exudes hatred and incitement to hatred against homosexuals. We would not be surprised if, following the article, far-right groups organized in the city to harm us. We are concerned because articles like the one in "Cronache..." are too similar to the motivations that led to the persecution of homosexuals under Nazism and the subsequent elimination of the "pink triangles.".
The article branded the moral sponsorship (no money) granted by the Municipality of Salerno for the presentation of "The Man Jesus Loved" – a presentation organized by our Association – as "a horrifying decision" (this is the title of the article), even "disastrous," "which aims to mix the sacred with the profane, arousing feelings of horror and shame.".
The book, deemed by the AN newspaper to be “blasphemous” and “delirious,” “… offends the sensibilities of all men worthy of being called civilized… people who still constitute a large part of the Salerno community.”.
The interviews in the second part of the text (among others, we remember Don Fanco Barbero, leader of the grassroots community "Viottoli" in Pinerolo – TO), are — according to the AN newspaper — a "single common thread... hatred towards the civilization that has shaped the fate of our world".
The book hasn't been read. But that doesn't matter to the AN councilors. It's an opportunity for political confrontation, and we must confront it. The book becomes—as "Cronache" continues—a "gaffe that shows how the left pursues only nihilism, doing everything it can to destroy the moral foundations that form the framework upon which human society is built, fostering the seeds that undermine organized life.".
From this last statement it is assumed that homosexual people constitute "immoral foundations" and are "the germs that undermine organized life." Such phrases horrify us, because they are similar to the statements of Himmler and of Goebbels, when they published their ’Race Manifesto“ in the 1930s, which, in defense of marriage, defined homosexuals as a "degeneration of nature that undermines social order, the race, and the nation." Homosexuals were considered "carriers of contagious diseases capable of spreading to heterosexuals; sociosexual saboteurs, deviants who undermine social order and health.".
And again – according to "Cronache..." – the initiative "...denies the family its right to be the primary manifestation of civil society, to constitute the seminary of the state, as even the ancient fathers recognized. Everything is equal, therefore nothing has value: this is the terrible motto that sums up the perverse actions of our City Council...an irreverent approach...".
Sponsorship of our Association is therefore described as a "perverse action." The reference to the questionable Catholic precepts on "homosexual acts" is clear.
And it doesn't end there.
The article invokes the memory of the Spanish poet Garcia Lorca, who inspired our Association because he was anti-fascist and homosexual, raped and killed by the fascists of Francisco Franco. Arcigay and ArciLesbica are denied “legitimacy” and the poet's memory is smeared and insulted with these exact words: “…Federico Garcia Lorca, shot by the Spanish “crusaders” during the civil war that freed the country from the communist dictatorship… A company in which men of sense would certainly not want to be found.”.
The AN newspaper calls for a “crusade” against homosexuals, appealing to and reiterating the reprehensible biblical condemnation of the city of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis.
“Catholics, Christians, are the only minority upon whom it is possible to sling mud with impunity, but now they are rebelling. Politics is rediscovering moral values and protecting them against the assaults of nothingness; a lesson that in Italy was underscored by President Berlusconi's slogan 'Taxes down, values up.'.
The AN councilors, in the cited article, had urged the mayor: “Immediately withdraw your moral support for an initiative that clashes with common sense in its natural and logical essence,” and they commented: “Will De Biase heed such advice, or will he persist in his error, giving in to the overtures of his city councilors, not from Salerno, but from Sodoma?”.
The "Federico Garcia Lorca" Homosexual Culture Association, affiliated with ArciLesbica and Arcigay Nazionale, is a democratic, pacifist, ecological, anti-racist, anti-totalitarian, nonpartisan, non-denominational, anti-fascist, and libertarian organization. We fight all forms of prejudice, discrimination, and intolerance against homosexuals, promoting their visibility and livability.
For these reasons and for the above notes, we denounce the daily newspaper “Cronache del Mezzogiorno” of homophobia and we publicly ask the editor in chief, Tommaso D'Angelo, to apologize to Garcia Lorca and his associates, as well as to Arcigay and ArciLesbica Nazionale.
Pasquale Quaranta
President of the Federico Garcia Lorca Association
ArciLesbica — Arcigay of Salerno
From “Cronache del Mezzogiorno” of January 27, 2005
The controversy surrounding the presentation of the book "The Man Jesus Loved" continues.“
A horrifying decision
National Alliance councilors attack the entire De Biase administration.
Salerno
The controversy rages on wretched decision of the Municipality of Salerno to sponsor the presentation of a blasphemous book, That offends the sensitivity of all men worthy of being called civilized. Delirious volume which states that Jesus was homosexual; a truth that goes hand in hand with other gratuitous accusations levelled at the Holy Church by authors of novels, books, articles, whose only common thread is hatred towards civilization that shaped the fate of our world.
Gaffe which shows how the left only chases the nihilism, doing everything to destroy the moral foundations that are the scaffolding on which the human consortium stands, favoring the germs that undermine organized life.
The family is denied its right to be the first manifestation of civil society, to constitute the seminary of the state, as the ancient fathers also recognized. Everything is equal, therefore nothing has value: this is the terrible motto which summarizes the perverse actions of our municipal council.
It must be said, however, that the centrist part of the centre-left coalition has rejected this’irreverent setting and has distanced itself from an initiative sponsored only by the Democrats of the Left, the Greens, and the People's Party. The National Alliance group in the municipality, a party that has always rallied around the triad of God, Family, and Country, has vehemently criticized the sponsorship.
In fact, councilors Cesare Festa, Matteo Cortese and Roberto Celano contested the mayor's decision to give legitimacy to associations such as Arcigay, Federico Garcia Lorca, shot by the Spanish "crusaders" during the civil war that freed the country from the communist dictatorship, and Arcilesbica. A company that sane men would certainly not want to be in.
Just as fearful people will have no intention of reading the book which refers — as AN councilors insist — to "a loving Jesus beyond the taboos between politics and vision.".
This is an initiative - continue the representatives of Fini's party - "disconcerting as it aims to mix the sacred with the profane, arousing feelings of horror and shame in all the people who still make up a large part of the Salerno community".
Catholics, Christians, are the only minority upon whom it is possible to sling mud with impunity, but now they are rebelling. Politics is rediscovering moral values and protecting them against the assaults of nothingness; a lesson that in Italy was underscored by the president's slogan: Berlusconi: "Taxes down, values up."“.
Festa, Cortese, and Celano put the mayor on the spot: "He must immediately withdraw his moral support for an initiative that clashes with common sense in its natural and logical essence.".
Will De Biase listen to such advice, or will he persist in his error, giving in to the offers of the his city councilors not from Salerno, but from Sodom?
"OPEN LETTER" BY GIANNI DE MARTINO
CLARIFICATION FROM THE AUTHOR OF "THE MAN JESUS LOVED""
Milan, February 1, 2005
Dear Pasquale,
Gianni De Martino
Thus, we find ourselves moving between love for Jesus and the "madness of normality," the usual political-media circus. I continue to think the book should be read, not exploited by the title alone, and that we must be clear in stating that we know nothing about Jesus' sexuality, except that he was a Jewish male of his time and that his courage lay in his tenderness.
Because he saves the centurion's boy (pais) and forgives the adulteress they wanted to stone, Jesus is also a virile man—unlike the Pharisees of Salerno, who, instead of acting for the common good, react at the mere idea of questioning Jesus' sexuality. We need neither a gay Jesus nor a heterosexual or asexual Jesus. We need the risen Christ, that is, the Jesus of faith, who is neither man nor woman, neither Jewish nor Greek, neither straight nor gay, nor even Christian, Buddhist, New Age, Muslim, or a member of Caritas Salerno, National Alliance, or Arcigay. The "universal" value of Christ must be safeguarded.
As Christians, we are called to a "new" and "eternal" life that goes far beyond sex and the dimensions of our earthly existence. While sex and the earthly dimension are important, we cannot confine ourselves to the selfishness of pleasure without diminishing the grandeur and preciousness of human life, which unfolds in time and space. It is, however, called to a fullness of life that consists in participation in the very life of God.
Reducing oneself to being nothing more than a heterosexual, a homosexual, a gay, a queer or a bi, as if it were a fixed and contracted identity and not a contingent, open and unnecessary history, means enclosing oneself in a narrow, often polarized and reactive idea of the relationship with oneself, with the 'universe world', with others and with 'The Other'.
‘This is what I try to say in "The Man Whom Jesus Loved," bringing everything back—after having freely and responsibly exercised the right to go beyond the limits of the "obvious that constitutes us"—to Christ and to the teaching of the Catholic Church, which is one, holy, apostolic, and Roman, and to its teaching.
Although I personally disagree with some official positions on sexual morality, I find it unfair to deny the Church—out of aversion and unmotivated ideological hatred—any knowledge of the good. On the other hand, I also disagree with the instrumental and nihilistic use made of my book, without even having read it, but only out of prejudice and to reinforce one's own prejudices. By doing so, I believe we distance ourselves from Jesus Christ, who nevertheless remains and opens minds and hearts to a breath of eternity wherever there is—gay or not, and Caritas more or less hairy—a gesture of intelligence, poetry, compassion, or pity for one another, in caring for one another and for the common good and for the city.
I didn't write, with Pasquale Quaranta, the author of the documentary section, for Power, nor for the Rebel, nor to be exploited and punished by local politicians and Pharisees. I continue to think the book is worth reading because, beyond its function as a social analyzer, it outlines a path of evangelical, human, and civil liberation. At least these were and remain the author's intentions, who, of course, also has his limitations and certainly doesn't claim to have advanced unquestionable theses. Everything can be discussed.
Another matter, however, are the apocalyptic, penitential, and pharisaical tones of AN, which, starting at a gallop, accuses my book of being "delirious" and then transforms, as if by sudden amnesia, Salerno into an archaic and hallucinatory Sodom. Another matter are the tones of some leaders of Caritas Salerno, who go so far as to call for Islamic punishments (namely, slaughter) for anyone who writes or presents a book, even a questionable one, in the beautiful and civilized city of 21st-century Salerno, which does not deserve such unworthy uproar. And to which, I would add, having been born in Angri, I remain tied by common roots, affections, and fond memories. Salerno is a welcoming city, but still the world! Another is the welcome and peace that He promises to those who convert to Him through the necessary repentance, mutual forgiveness, and the cross that is inescapable from every life that calls itself human: From John 14:27: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.".
As you know, dear Pasquale, a dark god, a god of mass murder, like the one of Sodom invoked by certain quasi-Islamic Christians in Salerno, brings no good to us or to the city. A God who is not a Person is of no interest. What we believe in is the Redeemer who, in obedience to the Father, wants us safe and sound as brothers and sisters who care for one another.
With the hope that Scripture may respond to Scripture, and that the Gospel of Life in which we believe may constitute for us a true voice that responds, welcomes and liberates, and is not an echo.
Gianni De Martino
http://www.giannidemartino.it
