diff -r b19e6456f2ce Modules/_localemodule.c
--- a/Modules/_localemodule.c	Wed Aug 15 10:56:36 2012 +0200
+++ b/Modules/_localemodule.c	Wed Aug 15 11:04:10 2012 +0200
@@ -40,7 +40,37 @@
 
 PyDoc_STRVAR(locale__doc__, "Support for POSIX locales.");
 
-static PyObject *Error;
+
+typedef struct {
+    PyObject *Error;
+} _localestate;
+
+#define _locale_state(o) ((_localestate *)PyModule_GetState(o))
+
+static int
+_locale_clear(PyObject *m)
+{
+    Py_CLEAR(_locale_state(m)->Error);
+    return 0;
+}
+
+static int
+_locale_traverse(PyObject *m, visitproc visit, void *arg)
+{
+    Py_VISIT(_locale_state(m)->Error);
+    return 0;
+}
+
+static void
+_locale_free(void *m)
+{
+    _locale_clear((PyObject *)m);
+}
+
+static PyModuleDef _localemodule;
+
+#define _localestate_global ((_localestate *) \
+    PyModule_GetState(PyState_FindModule(&_localemodule)))
 
 /* support functions for formatting floating point numbers */
 
@@ -99,7 +129,7 @@
 #if defined(MS_WINDOWS)
     if (category < LC_MIN || category > LC_MAX)
     {
-        PyErr_SetString(Error, "invalid locale category");
+        PyErr_SetString(_localestate_global->Error, "invalid locale category");
         return NULL;
     }
 #endif
@@ -109,7 +139,7 @@
         result = setlocale(category, locale);
         if (!result) {
             /* operation failed, no setting was changed */
-            PyErr_SetString(Error, "unsupported locale setting");
+            PyErr_SetString(_localestate_global->Error, "unsupported locale setting");
             return NULL;
         }
         result_object = PyUnicode_DecodeLocale(result, NULL);
@@ -119,7 +149,7 @@
         /* get locale */
         result = setlocale(category, NULL);
         if (!result) {
-            PyErr_SetString(Error, "locale query failed");
+            PyErr_SetString(_localestate_global->Error, "locale query failed");
             return NULL;
         }
         result_object = PyUnicode_DecodeLocale(result, NULL);
@@ -519,7 +549,7 @@
     if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "sO", &domain, &dirname_obj))
         return 0;
     if (!strlen(domain)) {
-        PyErr_SetString(Error, "domain must be a non-empty string");
+        PyErr_SetString(_localestate_global->Error, "domain must be a non-empty string");
         return 0;
     }
     if (dirname_obj != Py_None) {
@@ -605,12 +635,12 @@
     PyModuleDef_HEAD_INIT,
     "_locale",
     locale__doc__,
-    -1,
+    sizeof(_localestate),
     PyLocale_Methods,
     NULL,
-    NULL,
-    NULL,
-    NULL
+    _locale_traverse,
+    _locale_clear,
+    _locale_free
 };
 
 PyMODINIT_FUNC
@@ -623,7 +653,7 @@
 
     m = PyModule_Create(&_localemodule);
     if (m == NULL)
-    return NULL;
+        return NULL;
 
     d = PyModule_GetDict(m);
 
@@ -661,8 +691,8 @@
     PyDict_SetItemString(d, "CHAR_MAX", x);
     Py_XDECREF(x);
 
-    Error = PyErr_NewException("locale.Error", NULL, NULL);
-    PyDict_SetItemString(d, "Error", Error);
+    _locale_state(m)->Error = PyErr_NewException("locale.Error", NULL, NULL);
+    PyDict_SetItemString(d, "Error", _locale_state(m)->Error);
 
 #ifdef HAVE_LANGINFO_H
     for (i = 0; langinfo_constants[i].name; i++) {