Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Table of contents 1 Historiographic Considerations 1.1 Sources 1.2 Interpretation 2 Homosexuality in the West 2.3 The Hebrew Patriarchs 2.4 Ancient Greece 2.5 Ancient Rome 2.6 The Early Christian Church 2.6.1 Christ's Teachings 2.6.2 Council of Jerusalem 2.6.3 Saint Paul 2.6.4 Jerome 2.7 The Middle Ages 2.8 Renaissance 2.9 19th Century 2.10 Early Twentieth Century 2.11 Wolfenden Report 2.12 Stonewall Riot 2.13 Psychiatry 2.14 Gay-rights Movement 2.15 AIDS 3 Homosexuality outside the Western Ambit 3.16 China 3.17 India 3.18 Japan 4 External links Historiographic Considerations Sources Homosexuality has been taboo in many times and places and there is therefore often a lack of explicit evidence on which to base a history. There are a number of sources that can be collected across a wide variety of times and cultures, including the following. Statements of legal prohibition Religious and moral texts expressing disapprobation Medical textbooks treating homosexuality as a pathological condition Documentary evidence of persecution Literary sources, often unpublished during their authors' lifetimes, including diaries Linguistic developments, particularly in slang. Interpretation When discussing the history of homosexuality, one must first understand that the term "homosexuality" and its associated meanings are a product of 19th century psychology as well as the years of post-Stonewall gay liberation. Although there has been same-sex sexuality, the concept of the homosexual as an identity category or a label or as a class of person did not appear until the 19th century. See the work of Michel Foucault for more about this. Throughout most of written history, homosexual relations usually took the form of pederasty, that is, they were characterized by a marked age difference and the fixed assignment of sexual roles. Passive anal sex was thought of as unmanly, and adult men who enjoyed being penetrated were ridiculed. Another paradigm would be the two-spirits of America or the arivanna of the Indian sub-continent in which partners of the same biological sex but different social genders would be common. It is tempting to assign historical personalities like Alexander the Great, Plato, Hadrian, Virgil, Christopher Marlowe or Leonardo da Vinci to our modern-day sexual identity bins like homosexuality or bisexuality, however, this act of discovery of sexual identity was never much of an issue at the time, because only the sex acts were seen as being homosexual or heterosexual, but not the persons themselves. Accordingly, while some of the people mentioned above lived in all likelihood a life of sex with one gender exclusively, the nature of one's love interests, be they heterosexual or homosexual, was much less important than the sexual role one took in these encounters, namely active, passive, both or neither. Homosexuality in the West The Hebrew Patriarchs The taboo surrounding homosexuality in Jewish and Christian culture appears to date back to at least the time of Moses and Mosaic law. In the book of Leviticus we read that Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Leviticus 18:22 Which is followed by a statement on suitable punishment. If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. Leviticus 20:13 The veracity of traditional sources is open to question, as is the justification for continuing to cite a very few prohibitions specified in the book of Leviticus whilst others are ignored. See the reference to the Council of Jerusalem below. However the fact of their continuing social influence can hardly be doubted. Ancient Greece The earliest documents concerning homosexual, pederastic relationships come from Ancient Greece. However, Kenneth J. Dover has claimed that such relationships did not replace marriage between man and woman, but occurred before and beside it. A mature man would never have a mature male mate, one notable exception being Alexander the Great , but he would be the erastes (lover) to a young eromenos (loved one). In this relationship it was considered improper for the eromenos to feel desire, as that would not be masculine. Driven by desire and admiration, the erastes would devote himself unselfishly to providing all the education his eromenos required to thrive in society. In recent times, the research by Dover has been questioned in light of massive evidence of love poetry which suggests a more emotional connection than earlier researchers liked to acknowledge. Some research has shown that ancient Greeks believed semen, more specifically sperm, to be the source of knowledge, and that these relationships served to pass wisdom on from the erastes to the eromenos within society. Ancient Rome The deification of Antinous, his medals, statues, temples, city, oracles, and constellation, are well known, and still dishonor the memory of Hadrian. Yet we remark, that, of the first fifteen emperors, Claudius was the only one whose taste in love was entirely correct. Edward Gibbon Tiberius Caligula and Lepidus Nero and Sporus Otho Elagabalus Hadrian and Antinous Trajan The Early Christian Church Christ's Teachings It is notable that the accounts of Christ's teachings in the Gospels make no reference to homosexuality. Council of Jerusalem The Council of Jerusalem described in Acts 15 decided that although Christ may have admonished Jews to keep to their traditions and laws these were not required of gentiles converting to Christianity, who did not for instance need to be circumcised, and could continue to enjoy shellfish. The Council's final communication to the various gentiles churches was, That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well. Acts 15:29 It seems to be a matter of opinion whether fornication, translated in more modern versions as sexual immorality, would include all forms of homosexuality, or applied only to unfaithfulness, promiscuity, and incest. Saint Paul St Paul Jerome Jerome The Middle Ages Renaissance Chaucer's Pardoner [1] 19th Century Byron Oscar Wilde Boston Marriage Edward Carpenter The single-sex public school Seafarers Early Twentieth Century For events in Germany see the articles on Magnus Hirschfeld and Homosexuals in Nazi Germany. Wolfenden Report Main article: Wolfenden report Stonewall Riot Main article: stonewall riots The stonewall riots were a series of violent conflicts between homosexuals and police officers in New York City. The riot began on Friday, June 27, 1969 outside the Stonewall Inn, a gay hangout in Greenwich Village. "Stonewall", as it is often called, is considered the start of the modern gay rights movement in the U.S and worldwide. It was the first time any significant body of gays resisted arrest. For many, this is the primal scene of the modern gay rights movement. Psychiatry Homosexuality was deemed to be a psychiatric disorder for many years, although the studies this theory was based on were later determined to be flawed. It was not until 1986 that all references to homosexuality as a psychiatric disorder were removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association. Gay-rights Movement See Gay Rights AIDS See articles on Gay plague and AIDS. Homosexuality outside the Western Ambit China See Homosexuality in China. "Passion of the cut sleeve" - Emperor Ai of Han China and Dong Xian "Passion of the half-eaten peach" Ling (534 - 493 B.C.E.) and Mizi Xia India Epic of Gilgamesh Japan External links http://www.androphile.org http://www.nathanielwandering.net/Sex%20in%20the%20Past.htm http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/ http://www.well.com/user/aquarius/rome.htm http://www.glbtq.com/ This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.