Homokaasu (Finnish: “homo gas”) is an odorless chemical agent purportedly used by the Roman Catholic Church against its enemies. Based on an urban legend, homokaasu is said to cause homosexuality, diarrhea, blindness, and deafness.
The legend originated in the writings (or “reports” as they are called on the web) of Paavo Rissanen, who spread his conspiracy theory in Helsinki in the late 1980s. He believed he had long been persecuted and poisoned by the secret police of the Vatican, who had created homokaasu and used it as a weapon against him and many others, including Olof Palme, former prime minister of Sweden, who was assassinated in 1986.
www.publicopinion.fi/gallery_project_homokaasu_english.html, January 2012. Top image: http://crosstippedchurches.blogspot.com/2012/04/beloved-disciple.html, February 2013
Finnish netizens have incorporated “homokaasu” into their internet folklore as a source of humor and as an insider joke. The Sect of Homokaasu, a Finland-based internet group (www.homokaasu.org), includes among its goals the mission to warn the public about homokaasu.
– Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto
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