Massimo Consoli

{{short description|Italian activist and writer}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Massimo Consoli

| image = Consoli, Massimo - RM - Gay Pride - 29-6-2002 - Foto di Giovanni Dall'Orto.jpg

| caption = Massimo Consoli 2002.

| birth_date = December 12, 1945

| birth_place = Rome, Italy

| death_date = {{death date and age|2007|11|04|1945|12|12}}

| death_place = Rome, Italy

| occupation = Writer, Editor

}}

Massimo Consoli (12 December 1945 – 4 November 2007) was known as "the father of the Italian gay movement".{{citation |title=Italian gay leader dies |url=http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=16665 |first=Rex |last=Wockner |date=November 21, 2007 |periodical=Windy City Times |accessdate=2007-11-22 }}[http://www.repubblica.it/2007/11/sezioni/cronaca/massimo-consoli/massimo-consoli/massimo-consoli.html Repubblica.it] Besides being an activist, he was also an anarchist and a historian. In 1998, the State Archive of Italy's Ministry of Culture acquired his extensive archive of Italian gay activist history.

He wrote more than 30 books, mostly on gay issues, including works on German authors Karl Heinrich Ulrichs and Kurt Hiller. He was a close friend of American author and activist Vito Russo and Italian activist Mario Mieli.

He was also the editor of two publications: Rome Gay News{{Cite web |title=Rome gay news {{!}} WorldCat.org |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/55630093 |access-date=2023-03-15 |website=www.worldcat.org |language=en}} and O-MPO: organo del Movimento politico degli omosessuali.{{Cite web |title=O-MPO : organo del Movimento politico degli omosessuali {{!}} WorldCat.org |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/36513319 |access-date=2023-03-15 |website=www.worldcat.org |language=en}} These publications covered many aspects of gay political and social life in Italy beginning in 1975 through the 1990s, including multiple special issues on the AIDS crisis.

Consoli died on November 4, 2007, of colon cancer.