IHSP

MainAncientMedievalModern

Subsidiary SourcebooksAfricanEastern AsianGlobalIndianJewishIslamicLesbian/GayScienceWomen

Special ResourcesByzantiumMedieval WebMedieval NYC
Medieval MusicSaints' Lives
Ancient Law
Medieval Law
Film: Ancient
Film: Medieval
Film: Modern
Film: Saints

About IHSPIJSP Credits

People with a History: An Online Guide to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans* History
John Boswell Page

Site Maintainer:
©1997

Introduction

There has been a huge outpouring of research on lesbian, gay and bisexual history, as well as the newer "queer studies", in the past fifteen years. [See the Bibliographical Guide to Lesbian and Gay History for evidence.] But the field is awash with controversies, controversies, it must be said, which advance our knowledge on all fronts. The central questions raised address the nature and possibility of a "history of homosexuality". Some scholars assert that "homosexuality" as a discrete identity is a very modern western construction (although the dates suggested by these scholars vary considerably). Others argue that there have always been "homosexuals" with some self-awareness, but even they would acknowledge that the large, highly visible and open "gay and lesbian community: of the past few decades is a new development in history.

For those who argue that "gays and lesbians" are a new creation, the only "gay and lesbian history" that can really deserve the name is the history of the modern political and social movement. In practice, however, even those who argue this way accept that homosexual activity in the past was widespread (however conceived at the time) and that this past is of interest to modern lesbians and gays. An analogy may be made here with "national" histories: there was no "English nation" before the late middle ages - the idea of "nation" is itself a late development - and yet the history of both Roman Britannia and Anglo-Saxon and earlier medieval England is fairly studied as contributing to the history of the modern English nation. In the same way the lives and activities of those who were sexually active, or attracted to, members of the same sex, as well as the attitudes of others towards them may fairly be said to constitute a history of interest to modern lesbians, gays and bisexuals.

But what makes up "modern lesbian, gay and bisexual" [hereafter "LGB"] identity? Clearly "sexuality" - broadly understood as sexual activity and understandings of such activity - plays an important part. The history of sexuality, and especially homosexual activity, is a subject for LGB history. Some indeed would seek to limit LGB history to a history of sexual activity. It does not seem accurate, however, to restrict modern understandings of LGB identities to sex. There are, and have been, societies in which same-sex sexual activity has been widespread but has had little or no emotional significance [as with some modern prison homosexuality]. But a preference for, or orientation to, homosexual activity is only part of modern LGB identities. Just as important is an emphasis on emotional contact and partnership with another person of the same sex [called "homoaffectionalism" by author Paul Hardman]. Social surveys of modern lesbians and gays in couples show this clearly: the relationships continue to be emotionally central to participants even if sexual activity after a number of years becomes minimal or non-existent. On the other hand, in modern European and American societies emotionally intense same-sex relationships -- sometimes called "friendship" in the past -- have very limited, if any, public role. It is not uncommon for people to claim that they have "hundreds of friends", a nonsensical statement if "friend" were to have its significance in ancient and medieval European discourses. There is thus some reason to claim the history of friendship is of special interest to modern LGBs, who preserve with their subcultures a tradition of intense emotional same-sex friendship, both with sexual partners and with others.

The "History of (Homo-)Sexuality" and "Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual History"

Traditional history has sought to understand past and present societies with categories of analysis such as politics, thought, economics, and, at least since Karl Marx, class. In the past twenty or so years other categories of analysis, not considered important in the past, have appeared as significant to many historians. Perhaps the most important of these is gender. To these historians Gender is the cultural meaning given to the rather limited facts of biology. One aspect of gender analysis consists in looking at how "men" and "women", "masculinity" and "femininity", are understood in a society - and at how such understandings play out in people's lives. Another, even newer, aspect of gender analysis looks at issues of sexual behavior and sexuality.

Although Western medievalist, John Boswell, who legitimated lesbian and gay history as a field of study in his book Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality (1980) famously advanced the theory that "Gay people" have always and everywhere existed, this has not been widely accepted by scholars. Since 1980 a very specific theory the history of sexuality as it applies to homosexuals, has come to be accepted by the majority of historians working in the field. The model now is this:

• Homosexual behaviors exist in most societies, and in most, including European society until about 1700, homosexuality falls into two main patterns (at least for men.) One pattern is based on age-dissonant sexual dominance; an older man (not always very much older by the way) will take a conventionally "male" role in a sexual relationship with a younger male, but will not, in doing so, be regarded as any different from other "male" men in general society. The second common pattern is based on gender-dissonant sexual dominance; this means that in a number of societies there were "biological" males who lived as "non-males" throughout their lives, and these people can also be the sexual partners of "male" men without the "men" loosing any status. The Native American berdache is perhaps the most famous example of a widespread phenomenon.
• Around 1700, in Western Europe a change took place. A subculture of effeminate men arose in major cities, men who identified themselves as different. The word "molly" was used in London and other words elsewhere. Although they were prepared to have sex with "male" men these "mollies" were also prepared to have sex with each other. This is not, it seems, common across various societies. Some historians have called this the emergence of a "third gender".
• Since "a third gender" is not the model of modern homosexuality in the West, there has been a question of when the "modern homosexual" emerged. Many writers have argued that that the medicalization of homosexuality in the late nineteenth century resulted in the creation of a new creature - the "modern homosexual" (and the "modern heterosexual"!) What distinguishes "homo-" and "heterosexuals" from earlier models of sexuality is that they are in strict opposition to each other, and are defined not by gender role, or even sexual role, but by "sexual orientation". Certainly in Germany in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century there was a clear notion of homosexuality, and a political movement based on it.
• A major recent readjustment of this theory, resulting from the work of George Chauncey in his recent Gay New York. Chauncey has called into question the last part of the traditional formulation. He argues that elite terminology and labels (also known as "medicalization") had no immediate effect on the mass of working class New Yorkers (with the suggestion that this was probably true elsewhere.) That although there were, eventually, some self-identified "queers", until as late 1940 [!] it was common for working-class men to have "male role" sex with other men ["fairies"] without in any way feeling that they were "homosexual". What happened around 1940, the Chauncey-amended model says is that, first, more and more of the mass of the population began to identify as "heterosexual" and see any homosexual behavior as transgressive; and secondly among self-identified "queers" a shift in desired sexual partner took place. Previously "queers" had tended to prefer "male" men but now "queers" began to prefer other "queers" as sexual partners.
• It was this emergence of a social identity of "homosexual" which enabled lesbian and gay people to come together, recognize each other, and begin a social movement for legal, political and social equality.

As can be seen current discussion amongst historians focuses on the history of Western sexuality. It would also seem to imply that there were no "homosexuals", or "heterosexuals", in the past nor in other cultures [there was of course always homo- and heterosexual behavior]. In reading the various texts from other cultures below, readers might consider if the current dominant model applies as widely as its proponents suppose?

"Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual History" and Same-Sex Friendship

Lesbian history has long been roiled by the issue of "Romantic friendship" - with Lillian Faderman's Surpassing the Love of Men (in which she discusses women's romantic friendships). The question posed comes down to this "Does it matter whether they had sex?" It turns out that there is more evidence of lesbian sex than Faderman may have noticed (see Emma Donahue's book on Early Modern British Lesbian), but for "gay" history this has seemed less of a problem: there is no shortage of evidence about sexual activity between men in the past. If we want to restrict history for gay people to the history of same sex activity, we can do so. The result might be a sorry story of oppression, appearances in court, and Bohemian exceptions, but it is there.

But is this all there is, or is the wider topic of male-male emotional relationships also part of "gay" history? This is the real issue with the whole debate over Boswell's Same Sex Unions. In fact the issue of "Romantic friendship" between men is shaping up as a real panel-buster at conferences [perhaps we need a book "Surpassing the Love of Women" to discuss it?]. When we ask the question "Does it matter if they were having sex?", we have to ask "matter to whom [?]?". And if we have "Romantic Friendship" plus "socially created kinship" minus-"demonstrated or publically validated sexual activity", as seems to have been the case with adelphopoiia, what exactly are we dealing with? Clearly it is not unambiguous "gay history".

Some writers have argued that "homosociality, homoeroticism, and homosexuality are analytically distinct". In response, I would note that almost anything can be distinguished from anything else, and, to use a medieval terminology, nominalism is surely more accurate that realism in discussions of human relationships. If one wanted, I am sure one could make an argument that "homo-whatever" relationships between modern mid-American white men were qualitatively distinct from interracial relationships in LA, and then go on to insist that since they are analytically distinct, they should not be "confounded" by "gay historians". The issue, of course, is who makes the distinctions. All sorts of perspectives can be taken on this: sometimes mere whim is involved, at other times social power relations are involved. As far as I am concerned, history is written to be read: it involves narratives and analyses of current concern. So, why should we choose to argue that "homosociality, homoeroticism, and homosexuality" are analytically distinct? I think that there is no justification for distinguishing homoeroticsm and homosexuality as areas of analysis.

I am more prepared to listen to arguments about homosociality, so nicely misrepresented by the word "friendship", as a necessarily distinct phenomenon, but would ask what is gained and what is lost making the distinction? Does making the distinction make the past clearer or more obscure? Or is some sort of analytic tension required? I would argue that in the modern Western construction of homosexuality, traditions of romantic friendship have played crucial roles: in writers such as John Addington Symonds, Walt Whitman, a real gay tradition of reading Plato's Symposium, and so forth. In other words, there is a direct and demonstrable historical appropriation of traditions of romantic friendship by nineteenth and early twentieth century homosexual men which precedes "gay" and "gay history".

INVITATION TO CONTRIBUTE

If you have texts which could be added to this page, please consider sending them to me at . Texts can include texts from the past, or papers you have written about homosexuality, bisexuality, or transgendering in history.

Contents

• Chapter 1: History and Theory
• Chapter 2: The Ancient Near East and Egypt
• Chapter 3: Ancient Greece
• Chapter 4: Ancient Rome
• Chapter 5: Early Christianity
• Chapter 6: Byzantium
• Chapter 7: Latin Christian Middle Ages
• Chapter 8: Islam
• Chapter 9: Ancient and Medieval Jews
• Chapter 10: China, Japan, and Korea
• Chapter 11: India
• Chapter 12: Native American Societies
• Chapter 13: Early Modern Europe
• Chapter 14: Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Europe
• Chapter 15: The German Gay Rights Movement
• Chapter 16: The Nazis and the Gays
• Chapter 17: Post-WW I Europe to 1990
• Chapter 18: The United States and Canada to 1900
• Chapter 19: Before Stonewall
• Chapter 20: Stonewall and All That
• Chapter 21: Stonewall to Today
• Chapter 22: The Lesbian and Gay Movement in Europe
• Chapter 23: The Lesbian and Gay Movement in Australia and New Zealand
• Chapter 24: Gay and Lesbian Politics in Latin America
• Chapter 25: AIDS and History
• Chapter 26: ACT UP
• Chapter 27: The Queer Moment
• Chapter 28: North America: Current Politics and Strategies
• Chapter 29: Europe: Current Politics and Strategies
• Chapter 30: The Impact of LGBT Identity Politics Outside the West
• Chapter 31: Cross Cultural Themes and Studies
  

• Special Themes 1: Same Sex Marriage
• Special Themes 2: Bisexuality
• Special Themes 3: Trans* History
  
• Special Themes 4: Anti-Gay: Gay Criticism of Gay Culture
  

• Bibliographies and Lists
• LGBT History Related Web Sites
• FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions on LGBT History or Culture
  

Chapter 1: History and Theory

For teachers of courses on LGBT subjects an important choice is always whether to address "events and people" or "theory" first. In most areas of history this is simply not an issue: courses focus on periods and any relevant "theory" -- for example, Marxist economics, Whig politics -- is discussed as it come up. But LGBT history almost from the outset has been intertwined with complex discussions about what makes a "homosexual". It is also true that much of the evidence about "homosexuality" in the past survives in sources which have long been of interest to philologists, philosophers, and literary critics. The result is that the field is awash with jargonistic discussions. These discussions are not, however, pointless, and have raised basic questions about the entire arena of the history of human sexuality.

Discussions:

• John Thorp, Review Article/Discussion, The Social Construction of Homosexuality Phoenix, [At Medieval Sourcebook]
  Thorp analyzes one of the defining debates in the academic study of homosexuality in the past. He attacks the notion that there was no "homosexuality" in ancient Greece by considering claims of Foucault and Halperin.
• Paul Varnell, Foundations of gay history: the architect, OutNow 1996 [At OutNow]
  On what sort of evidence counts for "gay history".
• David M. Halperin, Forgetting Foucault: Acts, Identities, and the History of Sexuality [At Emory]
  Halperin is among the leaders of the "social constructionist" school of thought in regard to homosexuality in the Ancient world.
• Laurel M. Bowman, Interview with David Halperin, Favonius vol. 3 (1991), 27-43 [At UVIC]
• Marilyn B. Skinner, Zeus and Leda: The Sexuality Wars in Contemporary Classical Scholarship [At UKY]
• Kirk Ormand, Positions for Classicists, or Why Should Feminist Classicists Care about Queer Theory? , [At UKY]
• Rictor Norton: Synopsis of The Myth of the Modern Homosexual: Queer History and the Search for Cultural Unity, (London: Cassells, 1997) [At Norton's website]
  Norton is an opponent of "social construction" theories. He holds that the proper subject of gay history is queer culture in the past.
• Richard Mohr: "John Boswell and Gay Generations", [At TCP]
  Although a number of gay historians have been critical of John Boswell (along with the usual right-wing critics), many others have appreciated what he brought to gay historical studies.
• Vincent Cheng: Judith Butler's Obliteration of the "I" [At Berkeley]
  A paper on Butler's concept of "performitivity" - now a major theme in a number of LGBT research projects.
• Paul Halsall: Comments on Defining a Field: Lesbian and Gay History, CUNY 1995
• Paul Halsall: A History of Heterosexuality?
• Wayne Dynes: Queer Studies: In Search of A Discipline, Academic Questions 1995 [At fc.net]
  Critique of 1994 Queer studies conference at University of Iowa.
• Annamarie Jagose: Queer Theory, Australian Humanities Review, December 1996, [At latrobe.edu.au]
• Donald Morton : The Crisis of Queer Theory and/in Altman's "Globalism" [At www.lamp.ac.uk]
• Marc Greyling: INVENTING QUEER PLACE: Social space and the urban environment as factors in the writing of gay, lesbian and transgender histories [At maya.eagles.bbs.net.au]
• Frederick Whitam, A Question of Sexual Orientation, ASU RESEARCH, 23Aug95 [At Arizona State U.]
  Summary of ethnographic report, with claims of genetic basis for homosexuality
• Amy Goodloe: Choice, Biology and the Causes of Homosexuality [At Wodesigns.com]
  Presented at a panel discussion on Queer Studies at SFSU September, 1994.
• HOMOSEXUALITY - An Analysis of Biological Theories of [At U Texas]

Reviews:

Websites:

• Queer Frontiers [At USC]
  An important "Queer Theory" site.
• LeFonque's PostModern Hotspots [At coc.com.au]
  Contemporary Philosophy, Critical Theory and Postmodern Thought Resources.
• Foucault Home Page [At CSUN]
  Discussion of the work of French philosopher Michel Foucault has been central to some recent historiography of LGBT's. This is probably the best Foucault site, and has links to others. The links page here provides references to sites concerned with the other divinities of "theory" - Nietzsche, Lacan, Heidigger, Derrida, Deleuze. Some would argue it is all a commentary on Nietzsche.
• The Gay Gene [At AOL]
  A site run by Chandler Burr for "both scientists and non-scientists. It contains articles and links to ongoing studies. Much of the "critical theory" aspect of discussion about LGBT history has been founded on the assumption that "sexuality" is a human "social construction". This notion does have solid backing from anthropological data. A major challenge to the "constructionist" position has arisen with the publication of a number of different studies which suggest that homosexuality has a genetic basis in at least some people.
• The Scientific Debate on Homosexuality [At Dallas Net]
  Slightly "lighter" than the Gay Gene site.
• Scientific Inquiries into Sexual Orientation [At CMU]

Back to Contents

Chapter 2: The Ancient Near East and Egypt

The oldest human cultures complex enough to be called "civilizations" seem to have emerged in Ancient Iraq and Turkey, and in Egypt. The basic historical distinction between the two areas is that Egypt had a more or less continuous "national" history from the earliest Pharoahs until the rise of Islam, while Iraq, Syria and Anatolia, being much more geographically exposed, were homes to succeeding and not entirely continuous cultures - Sumeria, Akkad, Babylon, Assyria, Persia, Seleucia, to name only a few.

Despite the immense time covered, research into homosexuality seems to have only just begun for these areas, and this is a section of this page that will be developed as more information becomes available. So far much of the discussion is based on Biblical texts, and on the assumption that the hostility of the Hebrew Bible to homosexual practice reflects homosexual activities associated with the surrounding religions.

An area which need more research is evidence of "homoaffectionalism" in these ancient societies: that is relationships based on desire but not necessarily sexual. The epic story of Gilgamesh contains one very important story in this regard.

Discussions:

• None as yet

Texts:

• The Book of Ani, or the Egyptian Book of the Dead [At Upenn]
  The is the full text in E. Wallis Budge's translation. Homosexual activity is addressed in the "Negative Confession". Search for "lain with men".
• Contendings of Horus and Seth [trans Edward F. Wente, in The Literature of Ancient Egypt, ed. William Kelly Simpson, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1972), 108-26
  The struggled between these two gods (Seth was brother and murderer of Horus's father Osiris) in this New Kingdom literary text, has distinct homosexual overtones - based on who was dominating whom.
• Mesopotamian Law and Homosexuality
• Epic of Gilgamesh [extended summary] [At WSU]
  Only a long summary is available online. Note that in Tablet I: Cols. 5-6, Gilgamesh relationship with Enkudu is explicitly said to be like that "with a wife". Some versions, especially summaries, elide the homoeroticism of the text..
• The Promise of Inanna to Gender Variants, [At Gallae Page At Azstarnet]
• Myth of Cybele and Attis, [At Gallae Page At Azstarnet]
• Avesta Vendidad: Fargard 8 - Zoroastrian Law Book on Homosexuality [At Avesta Homepage, with links to text in original language]
  There is some difficulty in dating Zoroastrian scriptures. The Gathas, the presumed writings of Zoroaster, are silent on the subject. The legal texts here were collected in the Vendidad, circa 250-650 CE, and are overtly hostile to male homosexual activity. It has been suggested that they are the root of the Hebrew Scripture's condemnation - they contain the phrase "Lies with mankind as womankind" for instance. This depends on the assumption that Vendidad is a collection is of much earlier texts. But given the dates the influence may have been from the Hebrew texts. There is a general discussion of Zoroastrianism and Homosexuality on the net.
• Coptic Spell: For a Man to Obtain a Male Lover, Egypt, [poss. 6th C. CE]

Web sites:

• Ancient Spirituality of Gallae and Amazons
• The Tomb of Niankhkamum and Khanumhotep, [At Reeders Egypt Page]
  Perhaps the earliest homosexual couple known to history.
  

Back to Contents

Chapter 3: Ancient Greece

For modern western gays and lesbians, Ancient Greece has long functioned as sort of homosexual Arcadia. Greek culture was, and is, highly privileged as one of the foundations of Western culture and the culture of sexuality apparent in its literature was quite different from the "repression" experienced by moderns. The sense of possibility the Greek experienced opened up can be seen in a scene in E.M. Forster's Maurice where the hero is seen reading Plato's Symposium at Cambridge.

It would be too simple, however, to see Greek homosexuality as just a more idyllic form than modern versions. As scholars have gone to work on the -- plentiful -- material several tropes have become common. One set of scholars (slightly old-fashioned now) looks for the "origin" of Greek homosexuality, as if it were a new type of game, and argues that, since the literature depicts homosexual eros among the fifth-century aristocracy, it functioned as sort of fashion among that group. This is rather like arguing that because nineteenth-century English novels depict romance as an activity of the gentry and aristocracy, other classes did not have romantic relationships. Another, now more prevalent, group of scholars argue that term "homosexual", referring they say to sexual orientation, is inappropriate to discussions of Greek sexual worlds. Rather they stress the age dissonance in literary homoerotic ideals, and the importance of "active" and "passive" roles. Some stress these themes so intently that it comes as a surprise to discover that we now the names of quite number of long-term Greek homosexual couples.

As a result of such scholarly discussions, it is no longer possible to portray Greece as a homosexual paradise. It remains the case that the Greek experience of eros was quite different from experiences in the modern world, and yet continues, because of Greece's persistent influence on modern norms to be of special interest.

Discussions:

• Paul Halsall: Homosexual Eros in Greece (1986)
  A not terribly analytical paper prepared for a master's degree.
• Paul Halsall: Long Term Greek Couples
• Richard Burton: Terminal Essay, from his edition of the Arabian Nights.
• Edward Carpenter (1884-1929): Iolaus: An Anthology of Friendship [chapters on Greece and Rome]
• Betsey Halpern: Sappho's Legacy: "I say someone in another time will remember us." [At Tufts]
• Cashman Kerr Prince: Pederasty and Pedagogy in Democratic Athens, [At Emory]
• John Addington Symonds: A Problem in Greek Ethics
• Paul Cartledge: The Greeks and Anthropology, CLASSICS IREL AND 1995 Volume 2 [At University College Dublin]

Reviews:

Texts:

For Greek texts, in addition to complete English texts (when available), there are also links, where possible, to PERSEUS, an Internet resources which gives access to texts in both English and hyper-linked Greek.

Philosophical Views of Eros

• Plato (427-347 BCE): The Symposium (complete in one file, English)
  The classic discussion of the nature of "eros". This text provided a cultural basis for many educated homosexuals in later eras.
• Plato (427-347 BCE): The Symposium,[At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
• Plato (427-347 BCE): Phreadrus, (complete in one file, English), [At UPenn]
  Plato's use of homosexual eros, and the figure of the Charioteer of the soul, has been of lasting importance in positive conceptions of homosexual love.
• Plato (427-347 BCE): Phreadrus,[At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
• Plato (427-347 BCE): The Laws (excerpts)
  Plato, although seeing eros as fundamentally homosexual in the Symposium, adopted a more negative view here. He describes homosexual sex as "unnatural".
• Plato (427-347 BCE): The Laws, 636bff [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
• Aristotle (384-322 BCE): Homosexuality in The Politics (excerpts). The Full text of The Politics is available [At MIT]
• Aristotle (384-322 BCE): Homosexuality in The Nichomachean Ethics [Bk. VII, C. 5]
• Aristotle (384-322 BCE): "Friendship" in The Nichomachean Ethics [Bk VIII]
  The Full text of The Nichomachean Ethics is available [At MIT]
• Demosthenes (384-322 BCE): Erotic Essay, [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
• Demosthenes (384-322 BCE): Against Androtion 58 [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
• Sextus Empiricus (c. 200 CE): Outline of Pyrrhonism, 1:152, 3:199

Homosexuality in Literature

• Homer (c.850 BCE), Achilles Meets the Ghost of Patroclus, Illiad 23, [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
  Although Homer does not present Achilles and Patroclus as homosexually active, later Greeks assumed that they were.
• Sappho (late 7th C. BCE): Poems, [At Sappho.com]
  The first poet to call the moon "silvery", very few of Sappho's poems survive (only one in its entirety). But her poems are among the best evidence we have of Lesbian love in antiquity.
• Sappho (late 7th C. BCE): Poems [At PSU]
• Sappho (late 7th C. BCE): Poems [At U. Wisconsin]
• Theognis (first half 6th C. BCE): "To Kurnos"
• Solon (c.638-558 BCE): "Boys and Sport"
• Pindar (518- after 446 BCE): Ode on Theoxenos
• Aristophanes (c.445-c.385 BCE): The Clouds (complete in one file, English), [At MIT]
• Aristophanes (c.445-c.385 BCE): The Clouds, [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
  Although overtly "homophobic" at times, Aristophanes assumes homosexuality is both common and a normal aspect of human sexuality.
• Aristophanes (c.445-c.385 BCE): The Knights (complete in one file, English), [At MIT]
• Aristophanes (c.445-c.385 BCE): The Knights, [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
• Aristophanes (c.445-c.385 BCE): The Thesmophoriazusae (complete in one file, English), [At MIT]
• Aristophanes (c.445-c.385 BCE): The Thesmophoriazusae, [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
• Theocritus (c.320-c.260 BCE): Idylls 12 and 29 (trans. Edward Carpenter)
  Idylls 5, 12, 26, 30 are all autobiographical. See also 13, and 23. The originator of pastoral or bucolic poetry. Idyll 12:30 describes a homosexual kissing contest at the Diocleia festival at Megara.
• Achilles Tatius (2nd C. CE): Women unfavourably compared with boy lovers. Egypt, 2nd cent. CE, from Leucippe and Clitophon 2.37.5-9, 38.1-3. G [At UKY]
  From a debate between defenders of heterosexual and homosexual intercourse in one of the most popular ancient Greek novels.

Homosexuality in Historiography

• Herodotus (c.490-c.425 BCE): Histories 1.135 Go here for beginning of text. [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
  On Persian pederasty as borrowed from the Greeks.
• Thucydides (c.460/455-c.399 BCE): on Aristogeiton and Harmodius, from The Peloponnesian War. Full Text available at MIT.
• Xenophon (c.428-c.354 BCE): Anabasis 7.4.7, Go here for beginning of text. [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
  On Episthenes and a boy.
• Xenophon (c.428-c.354 BCE): Cyropeadia 7.1.30, Go here for beginning of text. [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
  On the value of comrades and lovers in battle. See also Anabasis 1.8.25, Anabasis 1.9.31 for accounts of Cyrus' friends dying with him.
• Xenophon (c.428-c.354 BCE): Memorabilia 2.6.28 Go here for beginning of text. [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
  Socrates' description of himself as "experienced in the pursuit of men". In 1.3.12 he describes the effect of love on him.
• Xenophon (c.428-c.354 BCE): Symposium 8, Go here for beginning of text. [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
  Section 8 begins an extended discussion of love, primarily homosexual.
• Xenophon (c.428-c.354 BCE): Constitution of Sparta, 2:13. Go here for beginning of text. [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
  On Spartan homosexuality. The whole of Const.Sparta 2 is about the education of Spartan youths is of interest.
• Aeschines (c.390-c.322 BCE): Against Timarchus (complete in one file, English)
  A legal brief delivered by Aeschines against a political opponent. It is among the most revealing of all texts on Greek attitudes to homosexuality.
• Aeschines (c.390-c.322 BCE): Against Timarchus, [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
• Timaeus of Tauromenium (c.356-260 BCE): History of Sicily
  Discusses pederasty among the "Tyrrhenians". He specifically states that neither "active" nor "passive" sex was considered objectionable.
• Strabo (64 BCE-after 24CE): Geography 10.4.20-21 - Go here for beginning of text. [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
  Quoting Ephoros on Cretan homosexuality and rituals.
• Plutarch (46-120 CE): On The Sacred Band of Thebes, from Life of Pelopidas
• Plutarch (46-120 CE): Life of Pelopidas, (complete) [At Virginia Tech]
• Plutarch (46-120 CE): Life of Solon, [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
  [1.3] explains how Solon forbade pederasty to slaves. [1.4] discusses Peistratus' lover Charmus.
• Plutarch (46-120 CE): Life of Lycurgus (complete) [At Virginia Tech]
  An important text for Spartan pederasty and sexual life in general..
• Plutarch (46-120 CE): Life of Alexander, (complete) [At Virginia Tech]
  An account of Alexander's life which makes clear his intimacy with Hephasteion. Alexander's favourite Bagoas is also describes, including a famous scene in which Alexander was called on by a crowd to kiss Bagoas in public. He did.
• Plutarch (46-120 CE): Parallel Lives, (complete in English) [At Virginia Tech]
• Plutarch (46-120 CE): Erotic Essay, esp. #5
  Although Plutarch discusses without any horror homosexual lover in his Lives, here he is opposed to pederasty.
• Pausanias (c. 160 CE): Description of Greece 1.30.1 Go here for beginning of text. [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
  The story of Timagoras and Meles and the altar of Love built by Charmus. Refers to love between Athenian citizens and metics (resident aliens).
• Pausanias (c. 160 CE): Description of Greece 9.23.1 [At Perseus]
  On the hero-shrine of Iolaus at Thebes. Cf. Pindar: Olympian Odes 7:84 and Scholia.
• Pseudo-Apollodorus (2nd C. CE: Library 3.5.5. [At Perseus, in English, with Greek text accessible]
  On the Abduction of Chrysippus by King Laïus of Thebes, sometimes said to have "invented" pederesty.
• Athenaeus (c. 200 CE): The Deipnosophists, Book 13:601-606
  The report of a Roman dinner party, in fact a weaving together of anecdotes, it includes a wealth of gossip about homosexuals in antiquity.
• Philostratus: The Life of Apollonius of Tyana: Of Eunuchs and of Passion [At magna.com.au]
  Eunuchs were an important part of Greco-Roman gender systems. Here Appollonius discusses their sexual appetites with the king of Bablyon.

Images of Homosexuality and Homoeroticism

• Youths wearing the chlamys views: youths first || second || third || fourth || reverse three boys wearing full mantles [At Perseus]
• Kottabos view: sympsium scene hetairas holding cups and skyphoi [At Perseus]
• Six Youths views: Side view || interior viewed from above || nude athlete with strigil || athlete upper half [At Perseus]
• lovers views: Side C homosexual love views: Side A gifts: cocks and dog || head of youth with cocks || Side B gifts: cocks and stag || head of man with cocks [At Perseus]
• Leagros wine cup views: exterior view || interior [At Perseus]
• warriors view: interior runner [At Perseus]
• charioteer flanked by dueling hoplites views: full scene, hoplites both sides || hoplites on left || hoplites at right [At Perseus]
• torch race views: race scene || race || left runner || [At Perseus]
• Dionysos, Warrior & youths views: Warrior and youths || youth on left || warrior || youth on right [At Perseus]
• love and romance views: a wedding || courtship of men and boys [At Perseus]
• Achilles and Patroklos view: Achilles bandaging Patroklos [At Perseus]
• Dancing Komast views: Side A || Side B || [At Perseus]
• Youth in Oriental Dress views: scene || Youth || Upper Half [At Perseus]

websites:

• Sappho Page [At Earthlight.co, New Zealand]
• Amazon Page [At Speakeasy.org]
  Extensive site about the famed women warriors - with texts from Herodotus and other ancient historians.
• Alexander the Great Page [At demon.co.uk]
• Homosexuality in Ancient Greece
  A proposed CD ROM project.
• Women's Life in Greece and Rome [At UKY]
  Excellent collection of texts.
• The Greek World of Mary Renault [At WWU]
  Renault was a lesbian writer who produced a series of splendid novels about ancient Greek male homosexuality. This site provides synopses, character lists [keyed to Perseus], pictures and links for each of these novels. Not exactly "history", but very useful for historians.
• Sexuality in Ancient Art [At Gallae Page At Azstarnet]

Back to Contents

Chapter 4: Ancient Rome

Discussions:

• Peder Foss: Age, Gender and Status Divisions at Mealtime in the Roman House [At U.Michigan]
  Not about homosexuality per se, but does address the way in which family structure and gender effect daily life.
• Richard Burton: Terminal Essay, from his edition of the Arabian Nights.
• Edward Carpenter (1884-1929): Iolaus: An Anthology of Friendship [chapters on Greece and Rome]

Reviews:

• Michle Lowrie: Edmunds, Lowell: From a Sabine Jar, Reading Horace, Odes 1.9. (Michele Lowrie) [Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] Lowell Edmunds. From a Sabine Jar, Reading Horace, Odes 1.9. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1992.
• Christina S. Kraus: Sussman: Declamations of Calpurnius Flaccus [Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] Lewis A. Sussman: The Declamations of Calpurnius Flaccus. Text, Translation, and Commentary. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1994
• David Meadows: Eyben: Restless Youth [Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] Emiel Eyben. Restless Youth in Ancient Rome. London: Routledge, 1993.
• Wade Richardson: Panayotakis, Theatrum Arbitri [Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] Costas Panayotakis, Theatrum Arbitri: Theatrical Elements in the Satyrica of Petronius. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1995.
• Elizabeth Block: Garrison, D.H. (ed): The Student's Catullus [Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] The Student's Catullus. Ed. Daniel H. Garrison. University of Oklahoma Press.
• D. Potter: Treggiari, Susan: Roman Marriage (D. Potter) [Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] Susan Treggiari. Roman Marriage. Iusti Coniuges from the Time of Cicero to the time of Ulpian. Oxford University Press. Oxford, 1991.
• Jeanne Neumann O'Neill: Mulroy, Horace's Odes and Epodes [Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] David Mulroy, Horace's Odes and Epodes. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994
• T. Corey Brennan: Brooten, Bernardette: Love Between Women[Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] Brooten, Bernadette J., Love between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism, (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1996)
• Tom Hanks: Brooten, Bernardette: Love Between Women[Review in Presbyterian for LG Concerns Newsletter] [At QRD]

Texts: Literary

• Catullus (84-54 BCE): Selected Poems, selections, trans. John Porter, [At Univ. of Saskatechewan]
• Catullus (84-54 BCE): Carmina 63, on the Gallae, [At Gallae Page At Azstarnet]
  In English and Latin
• Catullus (84-54 BCE): 9, 15, 16, 24, 33, 38, 47, 48, 56, 61, 80, 81, 99
• Catullus (84-54 BCE): Complete Poems, in Latin [At obscure.org]
• Tibullus (c.55-19 BCE): Elegies, I:4, 8, 9
• Horace (65-8 BCE): Satires:1,2,11, 113ff
• Horace (65-8 BCE): Epodes XI
• Horace (65-8 BCE): Odes IV, 1 and 10
• Ovid (43BCE-17CE): Metamorphoses 9:666-797
  The story of Iphis and Ianthe. One of the most important Roman presentations of lesbianism, but somewhat problematic in its details.
• Ovid (43 BCE-17CE): Metamorphoses 10 (excerpts)
  Male gods who love male humans: Zeus and Ganymede, Apollo and Hyacinth.
• Ovid (43 BCE-17CE): Metamorphoses full text of Dryden translation, [At Virginia Tech]
• Ovid (43 BCE-17CE): Amores, selections, trans. John Porter, [At Univ. of Saskatechewan]
• Ovid (43 BCE-17CE): Art of Love esp. 2. 663-746 and 3.769-812.
  Generally about heterosexual love, but with specific comparisons with the love of youths.
• Virgil (70-19 BCE): Aeneid 9 [At EWAC]
  Virgil tells of the heroic deaths of the lovers Nisus and Euralus.
• Virgil (70-19 BCE): Eclogues, Complete. In English, trans. Dryden] [At Virginia Tech]. Another version in HTML is available [At UMD]
  See especially Eclogue II -On Corydon and Alexis. Love, not just sex, is the issue here. Also see Eclogue VII.
• Virgil (70-19 BCE): Eclogues Complete, In Latin [At intellinet.com]
• Valerius Maxiumus (early 1st Cent CE): The History of Damon and Pythias from De Amicitiae Vinculo
• Seneca (4 BCE-65 CE): Natural Questions 1.16.1-3
  Seneca discusses a man who likes to be "passive" in sex.
• Seneca (4 BCE-65 CE): Moral Letters 122
  What "natural" and "unnatural" meant to a stoic philosopher.
• Petronius Arbiter (d.65 CE): Satyricon, 16-25 (p. 31-38 Arrowsmith), 126-140 (p. 142-163 Arrowsmith).
• Martial (c.40-103 CE): Epigrams
• Statius (c.40-c.96 CE): Sylvae Book 2
• Juvenal (early 2nd C. CE): Satire II - Against Hypocritical Queens [At Classics Homepage. In Latin]
• Juvenal (early 2nd C. CE): Satire IX, [At Classics Homepage. In Latin]
  On male hustlers.
• Lucian (c.115-189 CE) [writes in Greek]: Toxaris
  A dialogue between a Greek and a Scythian about customs of "philia" (friendship). The text is of major interest in assessing the play of same-sex "friendship" in the history of sexuality. While sexual activity is not made the focus, desire for the "friend" is a focal concern.
• Lucian (c.115-189 CE) [writes in Greek]: Charidemus
  A discussion of the nature of beauty - of males.
• Lucian (c.115-189 CE) [writes in Greek]: Dialogue of the Courtesans 5
  An important discussion of Lesbianism.
• Ps.-Lucian (Lucian c.115-180 CE) [writes in Greek]: The History of Orestes and Pylades, from Amores or Affairs of the Heart
  Although there has been a recent emphasis on the age-dissonant and time-limited nature of Greek homosexual relationships, Orestes and Pylades were presented as models for reciprocal and lasting eros.

Texts: Historical

• Polybius (c.200-after 118 BCE) [writes in Greek]: Histories VI: 37.9
• Cicero (106-43 BCE): Second Philippic Against Anthony 18
• Cicero (106-43 BCE): Laelius, or on Friendship [At CMU]
• Livy (59 BCE-17 CE): Histories 8: 28
  Livy's account of the homosexual affair in 428 AUC/326 BCE which led to the abolition of imprisonment for debt in Rome. A creditor tried to force a debtor to have sex with him and this enraged the public.
• Plutarch (46-120 CE) [writes in Greek]: On Sulla and Metrobius, the full text of the Life of Sulla also available [At MIT]
• Plutarch (46-120 CE): Life of Anthony, (complete) [At Virginia Tech]
  Early sections describe Anthony's early affair with Curio.
• Suetonius (b.c.70-d. after 121 CE): Julius Caesar 2, 45-53
  Caesar - every man's woman, and every woman's man!
• Suetonius (b.c.70-d. after 121 CE): Augustus 68-71
• Suetonius (b.c.70-d. after 121 CE): Tiberius 42-45
  Not a nice guy. The old Loeb version kept this in Latin.
• Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Caligula 24-25, 36
• Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Nero 27-29.
  Includes an account of Nero's two homosexual "marriages".
• Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Galba 22.
  Galba as an older homosexual who prefers other older men.
• Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Otho 12.
• Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Vitellius 3-5
• Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Titus 2-3, 7
• Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Domitian Domitian 7-8, 18-22
• Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Life of Tibellus [Attrib.]
• Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Life of Vergil [Attrib.]
• Suetonius (b.c.70 d. after 121 CE): Life of Horace [prob. not by Suetonius.]
• Tacitus (b. 56/57-d.after 117 CE): On Homosexuality, selections from The Annals
• Tacitus (b. 56/57-d.after 117 CE): The Annals, Full Text [At MIT]
• Battakes and the Plebian Tribune, A Gallus before the Senate, [At Gallae Page At Azstarnet]
• Soranus (2nd. C. CE) [wrote in Greek], On Pathics, as summarized in Caelius Aurelianus: On Acute Diseases and on Chronic Diseases IV.9.131-137
  Vern Bullough thought this passage a counter to the apparent proliferation of homosexuality in other literature since it seeks to counter doubts that "passive" homosexuals exist. Its interest is much wider, as Soranus presents his opinion that passive homosexuality, and lesbianism, is a "disease of the mind" and hereditary.

Websites:

• Ovid Site [At Utwent, NL]
• Ancient Spirituality of Gallae and Amazons
• Women's Life in Greece and Rome [At UKY]
  Excellent collection of texts.
• A Roman Bathhouse [At Lick]
  An image - with links to modern San Francisco.

Back to Contents

Chapter 5: Early Christianity

There is no area of discussion about homosexuality which is more contentious than the interrelationship of Christianity and homosexuality. The whole issue is irretrievably bound up with modern concerns because of Christianity's continued importance. On one hand there are conservative Christians who insist that modern Christian hostility to gays has a continuous tradition and that this is a good thing. On another hand the notion that Christianity caused homophobia was very important to early gay scholars working to explain gay oppression. But it has also turned out to be the case, in the United States at least, that the phenomenon of gay churches has been so successful that in almost every area they are the largest GLB organizations. LGB Christians have been unwilling to surrender the comforts of their faith and LGB Christian scholars, seeking to find a space for themselves in their past have challenged the orthodoxies of both conservative Christians and radical gays.

There is no doubt that Christian writers in every century have voiced criticism, sometimes virulent and obscene criticism, of homosexual activity and of "homosexuals" or other gender transgressive groups. The counter to this has not been to deny such voices, but to seek for more positive aspects of Christian history. And there is little doubt that this positive history also exists: even in the virulently anti-homosexual polemic of John Chrysostom, for instance, one finds evidence of entire Christian communities [in Antioch] which were unworried about homosexuality. Even the Bible itself, it turns out, contains "pro-gay" texts.

How much one reads such discussions as "history" and how much as modern theological discussion is an interesting question.

The discussion is now, however, moving beyond these fairly fixed positions. There is now increasing exploration of gender, both homosexual and heterosexual, as an important metaphor in Christian discourse. The person of Christ, a forgiving deity, who bleeds in order to nourish, and whose body is quite literally penetrated on the cross often ends up being described in a variety of "queer" ways: as a mother hen, as a eunuch, as a lover. When Christian writers tried to discuss female sanctity, they repeatedly end up by transgendering, or "queering" as a modern literary "theorist" might say, the holy woman in question: there is no higher praise for a Christian saint than that she has a "male soul in a female body", as Gregory of Nyssa says about his sister Makrina. Startling indeed to those who recognize this as a term for modern lesbianism. And when Christian authors tried to make sense of males in love with a male God, they end up asserting that the male soul is feminine (as indeed it is grammatically in both Greek and Latin), and that it is penetrated by God to bring forth the child of salvation.

These sorts of discussions are not comfortable for either religious conservatives, gay radicals, or even gay Christians looking for gay ancestors. What the discussions are doing is opening up new pathways to an appreciation of the "queerness" of the world's most popular religion.

Discussions:

• Bernardette Brooten: Early Church Responses to Lesbian Sex, The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review, Volume III, No. 4, Fall, 1996. [At HGLC.org]
• Homosexuality in the New Testament [At Upenn]
  An extended and very informative collection of scholarly Internet discussions.
• Thomas B. Dozeman, Creation and Procreation the Biblical Teaching on Homosexuality, Union Seminary Quarterly Review 49:3-4, [At Columbia U.]
• Christopher T. Lee, Paul's Malakos: Its Evolution from Classical Greece Through the Roman World [At Upenn]
• Nonna Verna Harrison , The Feminine Man in Late Antique Ascetic Piety, Union Seminary Quarterly Review 48:3-4, [At Columbia U.]

Texts: Biblical

• Biblical Texts, listing of all texts. [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
• Full text of all Bible texts. KJV. [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
• Pro-Gay Bible Texts - Introduction, [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
• All the Pro-Gay Texts, [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
• All the Eunuchs of the Bible, [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
  There is some evidence that the major sexual minority of Biblical times was eunuchs - yet on the whole the Bible is pro- eunuch, It certainly has a lot of them.

Texts: Patristic

• The Didache (1st C. CE), or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, [At American U.]
  One of the earliest Christian texts to condemn pederasty
• The Secret Gospel of Mark
  References, and some of the text, of this "special edition" of The Gospel of Mark were included in a letter of Clement of Alexandria. Some have argued that the text is witness to intense homoeroticism among early Christians, including - controversially - Jesus.
• Letter of Barnabus, [At American U.]
  Chapter 10 attempts a "spiritual" explanation of the food codes of the Mosaic Law. It connects the forbidding of hares with a prohibition against "unnatural lusts", apparently, according to John Boswell, because the hare was supposed to grow a new anus each year.
• Apocalypse of Peter [1st half 2nd C.]
  Discusses male and female homosexuals being tortured in Hell.
• Acts of Thomas excerpts, [Early 3rd C.]. The full text is available at the Non-Canonical Homepage
  Discusses male and female homosexuals being tortured in Hell.
• Apocalypse of Paul [Also known as the Vision of Paul] [3rd C.]
  Discusses male and female homosexuals being tortured in Hell.
• Conciliar Legislation
• Passion of SS. Sergius and Bacchus (3rd C. CE) [At CMU]
  The story of the martyrdom of two soldier saints. In this version, the earliest, they are clearly indicated as emotionally tied. In the later "Metaphrastic" version they are referred to as erotic "lovers"
• Church Fathers on Gender Variance, [At Gallae Page At Azstarnet]
  This is an interesting compilation of comments, especially from Tatian, on gender variance. Unfortunately no citations are given. Moreover, the page is devoted to showing Christian hostility to gender variance, but the historical reality was considerably more complex. There is an interesting reference to Lesbian marriage as well!
• Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215 CE): Paidogogus 2:10 - On Hares, Hyenas and Homosexuality
  Unfortunately the most interesting parts here are in Latin.
• Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215 CE): Paidogogus 3:3 - On Effeminate Men and Masculine Women
  A very interesting text which includes some suggestion of Lesbian marriage in Egypt.
• Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215 CE): Paidogogus 3:4 - On Women and Effeminate Men
  Clement seems to describe "fag-hags" in the Third century.
• Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215 CE): Paidogogus 3:5 - On Behavior in Bathhouses
• Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215 CE): Stromateis 4:8 - On Equality and Inequality of the Sexes
  The "effeminates" are lower than men and women.
• St. Paulinus of Nola (353-431 CE): To Ausonius
  A beautiful love poem by Paulinus.
• St. Augustine (354-430 CE): from the Confessions
  On his relationship with another man.
• St. Augustine (354-430 CE): Confessions, (full text) [At Wheaton College]
• St. Augustine (354-430 CE): Confessions, (full text - more modern translation) [At Medieval Sourcebook]
• St. Jerome (c.347-420 CE), Letter LV, [At Wheaton College]
  A woman may not divorce her husband on account of his vices, even if he is a sodomite!

Websites:

• Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Catholic Handbook
• Biblical Studies Resource Page Regularly updated metapage to Biblical and early Christian studies on the web.

Back to Contents

Chapter 6: Byzantium

One of the oddities Byzantine studies is that it has long attracted homosexual scholars, but virtually none of them have written about Byzantine homosexuality. There may be reason for this - in comparison with the mass of information about Ancient Greek and Roman homosexuality, the thousand years of Byzantine culture is poorly served. Entire classical genres disappeared - plays, satires, secular philosophy. There has been, instead, a legal tradition to explore; rather a lot of monastic regulation; and the occasional comments in elite historiography on homosexual activity by some emperors. John Boswell's Same Sex Unions rather surprisingly (to Byzantinists at least) for a time has made Byzantine liturgical manuscripts a focus of much interest.

But there is considerable room for further exploration. A number of saints lives reveal diverse opinions, and relatively little shock, about homosexuality (usually "andromania" in these sources), but they have not been fully exploited. Some saints lives also discuss homoerotic pairings with little comment. Although certainly not sexually active, it is also common to find Byzantine saints paired with each other in relationships which can be analyzed from the perspective of desire - "friendship" hardly begins to describe what they are about.

Other texts which may yield more are the small number of Byzantine romances now coming under increased scrutiny. It may be thought that hey are about "heterosexuality", but much current scholarship in western literature suggests that this will not be a satisfactory way in which to evaluate them.

Byzantium also supported an important sexual category not common in modern life - the eunuchs who rose to prominence in Church and state. There was even a monastery specifically for eunuchs. Comments on this group, as with any liminal group, help explain a society's gender expectations.

Finally, it cannot be overlooked that ancient texts tend to survive in Byzantine made copies. Which texts were copied, how often, and where are all answerable questions which may yield insight into Byzantine mores. While they did not write much homoerotic literature, they did copy it and, presumably, read it. Why?

Discussions:

• Claudine Dauphin, Brothels, Baths and Babes Prostitution in the Byzantine Holy Land, Classics Ireland 3, 1996 [At UCD]
• Mikhail Min: On Homosexuality [At CoptNet]
  A remarkably misinformed discussion of homosexuality in Coptic thought, but useful enough for its patristic references. Its discussion of "sodomy" should entertain anyone who has read Mark Jordan's book on the subject.

Texts:

• Coptic Spell: For a Man to Obtain a Male Lover, Egypt, [poss. 6th C.]
• John Chrysostom (d. 407 CE): Sermon on Romans 1:26-27, = Homily 4 [At Wheaton College]
• John Chrysostom (d. 407 CE): Against the Opponents of Monastic Life 3
  No friend of homosexuals, Chrysostom nevertheless reveals apparent acceptance of homosexual activity among Antiochene Christians.
• Justinian I: Novel 77, [538 CE] and Novel 141, [544 CE]
  Includes texts of earlier Roman legislation.
• Procopius (c.500- d. after 562 CE): The Secret History, (complete text) [At Medieval Sourcebook]
  Includes a sympathetic account of Justinian's attacks on homosexuals
• John Malalas: World History 18:18, (excerpt)
  On two bishops tortured for homosexual activity
• John Nesteutes ("the Faster") (d.595 CE): Penitential, Migne PG 88, 1893C
  Distinguishes between three kinds of homosexual acts - giving, getting, doing both. Unlike ancient Greek views, it was more acceptable to be "passive".
• The Ecloga on Sexual Crimes (8th Cent.), [Eclogues 17.33][At Medieval Sourcebook]
• Theophanes: Chronographia, 443.15
  On Nicephorus I
• Theodore of Studium (late 8th/early 9th C. CE): Reform Rules, [At Medieval Sourcebook]
• Arethas: Scholia
  Apparently Arethas was the first to use "Lesbian" in its modern sense (although Lucian did connect female homosexuality with the island).
• Two Versions of Rite of Adelphopoiia [At Medieval Sourcebook]
• The Life of St. Theodore of Sykeon (7th Cent.), Chapters 134-135.
  An adelphopoiia relationship is established between St. Theodore and Patriarch Thomas of Constantinople.
• Chin Bratotvoreniyu [At QRD]
  Old Church Slavonic text of the Rite of Brotherhood, abbreviated, with standard liturgical prayers (most of Litany, Antiphons, etc.) omitted. Cf. Jacobus Goar, Euchologion (1st ed., Paris 1647; 2nd ed., Venice 1730), pp. 706-709, s.v. "Akolouthia eis Adelphopoiian Pneumatiken." From: Velikii Potrebnik, printed by Edinovertsii in Moscow (Now called Belokrinitsky Hierarchy of Old Rite), in the year 1904. Transcribed by Nikita Syrnikov. Translated by Fr. Basil Isaacks April 1, 1995.
• Church of Greece on Adelphopoiia [At QRD]
• Life of Andrew Salos
• Life of Basil the Younger
• Life of Mary the Younger (10-11th C )
• Michael Psellus (11th C.): On Basil II
• Michael Psellus (11th C.): On Constantine VIII
• Michael Psellus (11th C.): On Constantine IX Monomachus
  

Weblinks:

• Byzantium: Byzantine Studies on the Internet
• Roz Moz
  This is a site on modern Greek Gays and Lesbians. Extensive bibliographical guides.
• Kalliarda: The Gay Greek Dialect [At Roz Moz]
  Not clear how far back this patois goes back. It contains between 3000-5000 words. This site contains examples, and .WAV files and is based on Elias' Petropoulos, Kaliarda, an Etymological Dictionary of Greek Homosexuals' Slang, (Athens: Nefeli, Athens, 1980)

Back to Contents

Chapter 7: Latin Christian Middle Ages

Discussions:

• Paul Halsall: The Experience of Homosexuality in the Middle Ages, 1988 [At QRD]
• Paul Halsall: Calendar of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Saints, [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
• Paul Halsall: Modern Gayness and Medieval Friends: Homoeroticism and Homophilia, 1997
• John Addington Symonds (1840-1893): The Dantesque and Platonic Ideals of Love (1893)
• Edward Carpenter (1884-1929): Iolaus: An Anthology of Friendship [chapter on middle ages]
• Gunnora Hallakarva: The Vikings and Homosexuality [At The Viking Answer Lady Page]
  A splendid synoptic and detailed account of current research.
• Jo Ann Hoeppner Moran (Cruz), The Roman De La Rose and the Thirteenth Century Prohibitions of Homosexuality , (a paper prepared for the Georgetown University Cultural Studies Conference, "Cultural Frictions", October 27-28, 1995) [At Georgetown]
• Glenn Burger, Queer Performativity and the Natural in Chaucer's Physician's and Pardoner's Tales [At Georgetown]
• Robert L. A. Clark (Kansas State U.) & Claire Sponsler (U. Iowa): "Queer Play: The Cultural Work of Crossdressing in Medieval Drama", Cultural Frictions Conference, Georgetown U., 1995 [At Georgetown]
• Martin Irvine, The Pen(is), Castration, and Identity: Abelard's Negotiations of Gender, [At Georgetown]
• Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, et al: Medieval Masculinities: Heroism, Sanctity, and Gender [At Georgetown]
• Mediev-l List: Was Richard the Lionheart "Gay"?: An Internet Discussion
• Discussion: Paul Halsall et al.: Braveheart: The "Inning" of Piers Gaveston
  On Pierre Chaplais' book, which claimed that Edward II and Gaveston were "adoptive brothers".
• Thomas L. Long: Julian of Norwich's "Christ as Mother" and Medieval Constructions of Gender, March 18, 1995, [At Long's Homepage]

Reviews:

• Keith Busby: John Baldwin, The Language of Sex [Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] John W. Baldwin. The Language of Sex: Five Voices from Northern France around 1200. Chicago: Chicago Univ. Press, 1994.
• Elaine E. Whitaker: Gender Rhetorics [Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] Gender Rhetorics: Postures of Dominance and Submission in History. Ed. Richard C. Trexler. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies 113. Binghamton, NY: CEMERS, 1994.
• Jeffrey Jerome Cohen: Feminist Approaches to the Body [Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] Feminist Approaches to the Body in Medieval Literature, edited by Linda Lomperis and Sarah Stanbury. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.
• Alison Taufer: Louise Mirrer: Women, Jews, and Muslims ... Reconquest Castile[Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] Louise Mirrer, Women, Jews, and Muslims in the Texts of Reconquest Castile. Series: Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Civilization. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996
• Paul Pascal: Gaisser: Catullus and His Renaissance Readers [Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] Julia Haig Gaisser. Catullus and His Renaissance Readers. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1993
  On the reconstruction of Catullus' text after its medieval mauling.
• Penelope Rainey: Walsh, ed.: Love Lyrics from the Carmina Burana [Review at Bryn Mawr Reviews] P.G. Walsh (ed.), Love Lyrics from the Carmina Burana. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, l993.
• Michael Rocke: Forbidden Friendships - summary [At OUP]
  Short summary of Rocke's important book on sexuality in Renaissance Florence.

Texts: Religious

• St. Benedict (late 5th C.): Rule, Chapter 22 [At OSB]
  Sleeping arrangements for monks: part of the rationale was to prevent sexual activity.
• Bede: Life of St. Cuthbert (7th Cent) Chapter 28 on St. Cuthbert's soul mate. The Full text is available, [At Medieval Sourcebook]
• Rudolf of Fulda: Life of St. Leoba (8th Cent) Chapters on the 28 on passionate friendship between St. Leoba and Queen Hiltigard, one of Charlemagne's wives.
• Burchard of Worms (c.1012): Penitential, [Migne PL 140], Bk. 19.5
• St. Peter Damian (late 11th C.): 'The Different Types of Those Who Sin Against Nature', from Liber Gomorrhianus [.c.1048-54] , [At Medieval Sourcebook]
• Alain de Lille: The Plaint of Nature (selections) , [At Medieval Sourcebook]
• Alain de Lille: The Plaint of Nature (full text), [At Medieval Sourcebook]
• St. Thomas Aquinas: On Unnatural Sex, Summa Theologiae II-II, 154, 10-11, [At Medieval Sourcebook]
• St. Thomas Aquinas: On Lust, Sodomy, etc, Summa Theologiae Question II-II, 154: On Lust [At EAWC]

Texts: Historical

• Roger of Hoveden: Philip II Augustus and Richard the Lionheart, 1187 from Annals

Texts: Literary

• Venantius Fortunatus (c.530-c.603 BCE): Written on an Island off the Breton Coast
• Alcuin (c.735-804 CE): To A Cuckoo
• Veronese Cleric (9th C): On A Lost Boy
• Clerical Poets (12th C.): Selection
• Peter Abelard (1079-1142): David's Lament for Jonathan
• The Story of Amis and Amile: from the Bibliotheca Elzerviriana
• Hartmann von Aue: Erec - on Jousting [At UPenn]
  On the homoerotics of jousting.
• Chaucer: Canterbury Tales: Prologue [At Virginia Tech]
  See description of the Pardoner, taken by some to be gender divergent.
• Chaucer: Canterbury Tales: Pardoner's Prologue [At Virginia Tech]
• Chaucer: Canterbury Tales: Pardoner's Tale [At Virginia Tech]
• Dante Alighieri (1265-1321): On Ser Brunetto from Inferno: Canto XV
• Michaelangelo Buonarroti (1474-1564): Three Sonnets

Websites:

• None as yet

Back to Contents

Chapter 8: Islam

Islam was the last of the great world cultures to emerge. With regard to homosexuality there are polar contrasts. On the one hand The Qur'an seems to condemn homosexuality unequivocally, on the other Muslim societies have shown a great deal of tolerance. From the sexually explicit poems of Al-Andulus [Muslim Spain], to the sexual comedy of The Arabian Nights, to the ecstatic loving of Sufi mystics, to modern Morocco and Tunisia - the Islamic world looked benevolently on men who love [usually younger] men. In India, according to Richard Burton, it was among Muslims, not Hindus, that homosexual eros was most accepted.

The first thing to note is that in some respects Islam has been the most sex-positive of the great world religions: the Christ and the Buddha were both sexually abstinent, but Muhammad was sexually active with a number of wives, and had children. Sex itself was not a bad thing, nor was abstinence desirable.

This sex-positivity of Islam is a starting point for further consideration. So far, until very recently at least, research does not seem to have gone beyond the basics, nor to have escaped the colonialist gaze. The situation is likely to change.

Discussions:

• Richard Burton: Terminal Essay, from his edition of the Arabian Nights.
  Burton' compilation of data on variety of societies was meant to explain some of the stories in The Nights. In doing so, he provided first overview of Islamic homosexuality.
• Edward Carpenter (1884-1929): Iolaus: An Anthology of Friendship [chapter on Arabia and Persia], with extracts from Rumi, Hafiz and Saadi.
• Islam and Homosexuality [At Islam Homepage]
  An extremely homophobic article which claims Islam never tolerated homosexuality.

Texts

• The Qur'an on Homosexuality. The full text is available [At Virginia Tech]
• The Tale of Nur Al-Din Ali and his Son Badr Al-Din Hasan,
  from The Arabian Nights, translated Sir. Richard Francis Burton. The entire text is available [At Virginia Tech]
• Abu Nawas (c.756-810): Poetry
• Sadi: Gulistan, (13th century) Full text of Persian prose/poetry text with significant homoerotic content.
• Rumi: Poetry

Websites:

• Islam Homepage
  One of the best Islamic sites, but not sympathetic to gays.
  

Chapter 9: Ancient and Medieval Jews

Discussions:

• Paul Halsall: Judaism and Homosexuality A short discussion.
• Michael Satlow, "Wasted Seed': The History of a Rabbinic Idea", from Ioudaios, [At Lehigh]
• Deacon MacCubbin: Sin and the Sodomites [At Okstate]
• Fred Rosen: Sex Ethics in the Writings of Moses Maimonides (1994) [At Aronson.com]
  This is, sadly, just basic information about Rosen's book, which translates Maimonides' writings, inter alia, on homosexuality and lesbianism.

Texts

• Medieval Spanish Jewish Homoerotic Poetry: Selection

Websites:

• Icon of Jonathan and David, as gay lovers. [At Webcom]

Back to Contents

Chapter 10: China, Japan and Korea

Discussions:

• Homosexuality in the Korean Historical Record [At Utopia-Asia]
• A. L. De Silva: Homosexuality and Theravada Buddhism [At BuddhaZine]
  De Silva discusses the prohibitions for monks in the Vinaya, the figure of the pandaka in the early texts and the application of these texts to lay people.
• Peter A. Jackson: The Persistence of Gender: From Ancient Indian Pandakas to Modern Thai Gay-Quings Australian Humanities Review, April 1996, [At latrobe.edu.au]
  On homosexuality in Buddhist countries past and present.
• Peter A. Jackson: NonNormative Sex Gender Categories in Theravada Scriptures, Australian Humanities Review, April 1996 [At latrobe.edu.au]
  Massively information appendix to Jackson's article.
• Robert Aitken: Gay marriage from a Buddhist perspective [At OutNow]
  Aitken is an important figure in American Zen. His discussion here is mainly directed at modern concerns, but he discusses the history.
• Chris Berry: Queer Film in East Asia, Australian Humanities Review, July 1996 [At latrobe.edu.au]

Texts

• Texts on Chinese Homosexual Tradition
• Modern Gay Life in China and Taiwan - Newspaper Reports
• Wu Tsao Page [At Sappho Com]
  China's foremost Lesbian poet.
• Manifesto of 1996 Chinese Tongzhi Conference [At HKGAY]
  "Tongzhi" is being used in Chinese for Gay. This manifesto directly asserts a historical basis for modern Chinese homosexuals and the differences of Chinese Tongzhi movements with western gay movements.

Websites:

• Geschichte der Schwulen und Lesben in Taiwan - History of the Gays and Lesbians in Taiwan [At Free University of Berlin]
  The site is in English and German. Addresses history since listing of Martial law in 1986. There is an extensive bibliography of German, Chinese, and English works.
• Sexuality and Edo Culture, 1750 - 1850 Conference site [At U. Indiana]<
• Yukio Mishima Page [At Geocities]
  On Japan's homosexual writer.
• Mishima Gallery [At nabeshima.com]

Back to Contents

Chapter 11: India

It has proved to be extraordinarily difficult to find much infromation about South Asian homosexuality. Some relevant documents are under "Islam", (including Richard Burton's Terminal Essay, in which he claims that homosexual activity was common in Indo-Muslim culture but not Hindu cultures). See also the Buddhist references collected under "China and Japan).

Discussions:

• Anwar Sheikh: Mysticism: The Vedic Legacy [At Anet-dfw.com]
  Sheikh is mainly trying to show that Sufism is an outgrowth of Hinduism, but in doing so he addresses the importance of homoeroticism in mystic thought.
• Ramakrishnan: "Bisexuality: identities, behaviors, and politics", Trikone April 1996 [At Utextas]
• Ian Iqbal Rashid: naming names or How Do You Say 'Queer' in 'South Asian'? [At Rungh]
• SASIALIT: Discussion on Hijiras [At Rice]

Texts:

• Vatsyayana: Kama Sutra, Part 2. Chap 9, 1883 trans. by Richard Burton. [At Bibliomania.com]
  On "Mouth Congress" and "different types of eunuchs".
• The Vinaya [Buddhist Monastic Precepts]

Websites:

• Shri Krishna as Kali and Lalita [At Hubcom.com]
  Although the sexual relationships of Indian gods often follow heterosexual expectations, the individual God/dess may change form and be incarnate as another. This story could be read as gay, lesbian, or multiply transgendered.
• Tantrik Links [At Hubcom.com]
  Tantricism was the "short path" to Enlightenment in Hinduism and Buddhism. Sexual ecstasy was a particularly important feature, often represented by heterosexual "yab-yum" figures.

Back to Contents

Chapter 12: Native American Societies

There are modern "Gay American Indians" whose self-definition seems pretty much the same as other gay and lesbian Americans. What is of interest in this section is the tradition in many different Native American societies of socially validated gender-divergent roles. Some groups essentially allowed children to choose their gender. A male child who chose female clothes, for instance, would be raised as a female, and would marry man. In some societies analogous roles were open to female children. The general term for these individuals is "berdache" - a colonialist French word, derived from Persian, - but which has retained its utility give the great variety of Native American terms for the practice.

Some writers have objected to what they see as the appropriation of the "berdache" by modern gay people, and by writers such as Will Roscoe (whose books are probably the most widely read on the subject). While this complaint has some justification, it could be made about any past group seen as relevant to the history of "homosexuality" but where the societal definition was in terms of gender-identity rather than sexual orientation.

Discussions:

• Gary Bowen: Transgendered Native Americans [At fcowboy]
• Wendy Susan Parker: The Berdache Spirit [at Nu-woman.com]
• Information on Berdachism [At Scripps College]
• A Visit to We'wha's Grave [At Gallae Page At Azstarnet]
• Jody Greene: The Traffic In Men, review of Richard Trexler, Sex and Conquest: Gendered Violence, Political Order, and the Conquest of the Americas [At The BOOKPRESS February, 1996]

Texts:

• Sources on Native American Gender Issues

Websites:

• TheBerdacheForum
• Native American Page: Berdache and Two-Spirit People

Back to Contents

Chapter 13: Early Modern Europe

The great distinction between "modern" and "ancient and medieval" history lies in the quantity of available sources. In pre-modern culture we rely primarily on literary and legal sources to understand homosexuality. Both types of source are highly distorting. Although we can - with care - outline the contours of some "homosexual" subcultures in pre-modern societies, such efforts always remain tentative.

From the late fifteenth century in Europe this all changes. Large amounts of source material begins to survive, and new sorts of material at that. Most important are court records - especially when full trial records remain. So great are the survivals in some Italian cities that statistical surveys of the data are possible (for which see the work of Michael Rocke and Guido Ruggiero in the bibliography). The sources are not perfect, but now a social history is possible.

Real progress has been made for some parts of Europe - especially Italy. Other areas remain less well investigated. But debates are now flourishing about what exactly was the social "identity" of homosexually active men (there is still not enough evidence to document Lesbian subcultures until much later than for males).

At the same time, the types of "homosexual source" we have for previous societies continued to be produced. Plays and poems are less central to our conception of homosexuality in this period, but they remain important. Especially because we now have evidence about audience and styles/occasions of performance, socially significant inferences can be made. This data cannot be disgarded.

Discussions:

• Garn LeBaron, Jr., "Sexual Relations in Renaissance Europe", 1995, [At LeBaron's homepage]
• Edward Carpenter (1884-1929): Iolaus: An Anthology of Friendship [chapter on Renaissance]
• Rictor Norton: Synopsis of Mother Clap's Molly House: The Gay Subculture in England, 1700-1830 [At Rictor Norton's website]
• Rictor Norton: The Homosexual Pastoral Tradition [At Rictor Norton's website]
• Rictor Norton: Queen James and His Courtiers [At Rictor Norton's website]
• Rictor Norton: Sir Francis Bacon [At Rictor Norton's website]
• Rictor Norton: Anthony Bacon [At Rictor Norton's website]
• Rictor Norton: Lesbian Pirates: Anne Bonny and Mary Read [At Rictor Norton's website]
• Francis Bacon [At UIC]
• Was Shakespeare gay? [At Quistory]

Texts: Legal and Historical

• The Law in England, 1290-1885, texts of the major laws.
• The Act of 1533, which first made buggery a crime under English Criminal Law [jpeg image]
• Homily Against Adultery and Whoredom, from Short-Title Catalogue 13675. Renaissance Electronic Texts 1.1.1994 Ian Lancashire (ed.) [At U. Toronto]
  With some discussion of Sodom! But Among Our Own Selves, 1728 [At Rictor Norton's website]
• Molly Exalted, 1763 [At Rictor Norton's website]
• Documents of Early Modern Queer History [At Rictor Norton's website]
  [Rictor Norton has informed me that "During the coming few months I hope to add pages on various broadside ballads, satires and trials, e.g. John Dunton's The He-Strumpets, 1710; The State of Rome, 1739; Love in the Suds, 1772; excerpts from Sodom and Onan; a molly trial of 1709; a molly trial of 1707; A Sapphick Epistle, 1777; the Latin Epitaph on Bob Jones, 1773; A Dialogue Concerning Venus, 1691, and Jenny Cromwell's Complaint Against Sodomy, 1690s."]
• Montaigne: A Homosexual Marriage in Rome, [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook].
  Account of a gay marriage in 16th-century Rome by Montaigne.

Texts: Literary

• Michael Drayton (1563-1631): Piers Gaveston [extracts]
• Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593): Edward II
• Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593): "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" [At Rjgeib.com]
  Presents it as a heterosexual poem!
• Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593): Amourous Neptune [At WWU]
• Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593): Jupiter and Ganymede
• Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593): Hero and Leander
• William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Sonnets [At Ludweb]
  With sound! See esp. 20, 29, 35, 36, 53, 55, 57, 60, 67, 87, 94,104, 110, 116, 144.
• William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Sonnets [At MIT]
• Richard Barnfield (1574-1627): The Affectionate Shepherd
  Famous for the line "If it be a sinne to love a lovely lad/Oh, then sinne I"
• Thomas Heywood (1574?-1641): Jupiter and Ganimede
• Charles Churchill (1731-1764): from The Times
• Poetry of Aphra Benn, selections at [Sappho.Com]
  The first women to earn her living by writing in English.
• Montague Summers, ed.: Memoirs of Mrs. Behn [At Virginia Tech]
• Der Dichter Friederich Hoelderlin [At Tübingen]

Websites:

• British Legal History of Homosexuality - from Fleta (13th C.) to 1967 [at Rowse History Centre.]
• Marlowe Page [At Alchemyweb.com]
• Aphra Benn Page [At Compuserve]
• Marquis De Sade Page [At websight.com]

Back to Contents

Chapter 14: Nineteenth-Early Twentieth-Century Europe

Discussions:

• Edward Carpenter (1884-1929): Iolaus: An Anthology of Friendship [chapter on England and Germany in 19th Century]
• Robert Wisdom: Oscar Wilde's 1895 martyrdom for 'indecent acts' [At MSC.net]
• Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde [At LMSMA]
• Hal Gordon: The Murder of Tchaikovsky [At QRD]

Texts:

• Jeremy Bentham: "Offences Against One's Self" (c. 1785) [Full text] [At Columbia U.] Bentham's work was one of the earliest modern ethical texts in favor of the rights of homosexuals. The treatise examines the question of what, if any, legal sanctions should be applied against homosexuality.
• Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825-1895): The Riddle of Man-Manly Love [This is a link to a notice about a translation of the book -- by the first "modern homosexual". ]
• John Addington Symonds (1840-1893): A Problem in Modern Ethics (London: 1896)
• Edward Carpenter (1884-1929): The Intermediate Sex: A Study of Some Transitional Types of Men and Women, (London: George Allen & Unwin,1908) Also available in zip form [At Apana.org.au]
• Edward Carpenter (1884-1929):: Homogenic Love and Its Place in a Free Society 1894
• Edward Carpenter (1884-1929): Iolaus: An Anthology of Friendship (1909) [Full text] (1902)

Texts: Literary

• Anna Seward (1747-1809): Poems on Female Friends
• Lord (George Gordon) Byron (1784-1824): Don Leon (attrib?)
  The poem is passionate defense of homosexuality, and is usually attributed to Byron
• Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892): Selected Poetry [At U. Toronto]
• Walter Pater (1839-1894): Selected Prose [At U. Toronto]
• Bertram Lawrence (pseud. of J. F. Bloxam): Poem: "A Summer Hour", 1894
• John Francis Bloxam: Story: The Priest and the Acolyte, 1894
  An extraordinary short story which combines high ritualism, saccharin melodrama, and a quite specific plea for acceptance of difference.
• Fr. Faber:
• Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889): Select Poetry [At U. Toronto]
  A gay Jesuit priest and poet. See "Felix Randell" and "The Bugler Boy's First Communion".
• Oscar Wilde (1854-1900): Ballad of Reading Gaol [At Cbef.gov]
• Oscar Wilde (1854-1900): The Complete Shorter Fiction & Poems in Prose [At Bibliomania.com]
• Oscar Wilde (1854-1900): Poems [At Columbia University]
• Oscar Wilde (1854-1900): Selected Works [At Virginia Tech]
  Includes full texts of Charmides, Dorian Gray, Garden of Eros, and more.
• Lord Alfred Douglas (1870-1945): Two Poems, 1894
• A.E. Houseman (1859-1936): A Shropshire Lad [At Columbia U.]
• Pierre Louys (1870-1925): from Chansons de Bilitis
• Marcel Proust (1871-1922): A Race Accursed
• Vincent Bui: Literrature: French Homosexual Literature [At ensta.fr]
  extracts from Racine, Anouilh, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Yourcenar and others. [In French]

Links

• Sir Richard Burton Page
• The Gerard Manley Hopkins Page [At Creighton U.]
• Oscariana [At jonno.com]
  A virtual biography of Oscar Wilde, including contemporary sources and images.
• Wild Wilde Web [At Anonmtec.com]
• WILDE Web Site [At Demon.co.uk] - information on a film of Wilde's life, and a Random Wildean Wisdom Quote Generator.
• Walter Pater Page [At CRL.com]
• Proust Said That [At Well.com]
• Wilfred Owen Site [At U?, Belgium]
• Andre Gide Page [At LM.com]
• Famous British Paedophiles [At Hkstar]
  I am not very happy about this site - which addresses both heterosexual and homosexual pedophilia - but it does contain picture and information on a number of 19th and early 20th century figures.

Back to Contents

Chapter 15: The German Gay Rights Movement

Discussions:

• H. Lucas Ginn: Gay Culture Flourished in Pre-Nazi Germany [Oct 1995, in Update. At QRD]

Texts:

• Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935):
• Sigmund Freud: Letter to a Mother
  Although the psychoanalytic movement in the US became a major victimizer of homosexuals [through its dedication to the notion of ego-normality], Freud himself, as in this letter to the mother of a homosexual, was much more approving.

Websites:

• Magnus Hirschfeld Exhibit
• Schwules Museum Berlin/Akademie der Künste [The Gay Museum/The Academy of Arts] Goodbye to Berlin? HUNDERT JAHRE SCHWULENBEWEGUNG - 100 YEARS OF GAY LIBERATION - CENTENAIRE DU MOUVEMENT GAI [At www.adk.de]
  An exhibition celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the TheWissenschaftliche-humanitäre Komitee (Scientific Humanitarian Committee) in May 1897 in Berlin. There are English and German versions of the site.

Back to Contents

Chapter 16: The Nazis and the Gays

At one time it was fashionable to claim that the Nazis accepted homosexuality. Partly this was a way to slur the Nazis [as if they need slurring], and partly a reflection of the suppressed homoeroticism of Nazi visual expression. What was overlooked until the 1970s, and the publication of a series of articles by James Steakley in the Toronto Body Politic (quite possibly the best bi-weekly ever produced by the modern gay community), was that the Nazis had directed laws, prisons, and the full panoply of the state against homosexuals; had deliberately destroyed the sex research institute set up by Magnus Hirschfeld; and added homosexuals to the list of those to be eliminated. In other words the world managed to "forget" the holocaust of homosexuals.

In recent years this forgetting has been overcome. Thanks to the efforts of Steakley, Richard Plant and Burchhard Jellonek, as well as the publication by Hans Heger [pseud.] of his memoirs, and the play Bent by Martin Shaw, the suffering of gays under the Third Reich has become well known. Now the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC makes sure to explicate the issues involved.

The total number of gays killed seems to have been about 15,000 [figures from Jellonek], mostly by being worked to death. Gays were not sent as gays to extermination camps. This is massively smaller than the devastation visited on Jewish, Gypsy and Serbian populations. But documenting the Nazi attacks on homosexuals is not part of a "catch-up" game with Jews, or other groups. It is rather an exposing of the possible effects of dehumanizing any group.

Recently some members of the American Religious Right [a diverse group that should no more be demonized than any other], have taken to denying the gay holocaust, and in fact asserting that the Nazi part was essentially homosexual. This is nonsense, and not one serious historian countenances the charge. Nevertheless the book - The Pink Swastika - which makes this charge has been subjected to a line by line refutation, available via here.

Discussions:

• James Steakley: Homosexuals and the Third Reich, The Body Politic 11, January/February 1974, [At Carleton]
  This was the first important article to discuss the Nazi attack on gays.
• Harris, Michael J. "Homosexuals in the Holocaust: an Even More Forgotten People." [At Harris' homopage]
• Christine Mueller: Refutation of Radical Right claims Connecting Gays and Nazis, [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
• Night of the Long Knives. june 30, 1934, [At HistoryPlace]
  An account of Hitler's attack ond, and removal of Roehm, the SA leader who was homosexual.
• See also the Table of Contents and homophobic introduction to the book The Pink Swastika discussed by Professor Mueller. . [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
• Scott Lively/Kevin Abrams: The Pink Swastika [At earthlink.net]
  This is an example of a Radical Religious Right to claim that that Nazi party was "homosexual". The book is a lie, but, since truth is not afraid, I provide an online link to it. A condensed version is also available [At QRD]
• Eugene Narrett: THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF NAZISM, from The Wanderer, August 8, 1996
  An example of the way the Lively/Abrams book is popularized by the Radical Religious Reich press. This is from the extreme right ring Catholic paper The Wanderer, owned by Paul Weyrich. This article is classcic case of Weyrich's evil. It describes the deaths by working to death of circa 6000 gay men, and then seeks to account for the Nazi's "leniency" by arguing that leading Nazis were gay. A truly sick approach. Fortunately only imbeciles read the Wanderer.
• Citizens Allied for Civic Action (CAFCA): THE ANNOTATED PINK SWASTIKA [At QRD], Alternative site [At U.Chicago]
  Extensive [600 Kbyte] point by point refutation of the Lively/Abrams book. The effort is worthwhile, but it should be noted that no serious historian takes the Lively/Abrams book seriously as anything other than evidence about the modern American far right [a phenomenon of serious historical interest.]

Texts:

• The Nazi Marking/Idenification System [At HistoryPlace]
  This page contains a reproduction of an original document illustrating the various types of triangles/markings assigned to different categories of prisoner.
• Heinrich Himmler: On Homosexuals
• Para. 175
  The Nazi laws on homosexual activity.
• Hans Heger [pseud.]: Daily Life in a Camp, from The Men with the Pink Triangles. [At CMU]
  (Note: Heger is the name of the journalist who wrote the book. The "hero" of the book remains anonymous). See here for a picture of prisoners in Sachsenhausen wearing Triangle badges. [It is not possible to see which color]
• Pierre Seel: The Death of His Lover
• Christopher Isherwood: Mr. Norris Changes Trains, extracts. [At Island.net]
  Isherwood, the most well-known English writer on Interwar Berlin describes the atmosphere in Germany.
• Eugene Kogon:

Websites:

• The Pink Triangle Page by Scott Safier at CMU.
  An excellent collection of carefully document sources and discussions.
• Films on Nazi Persecution [At QRD]
• Gays, the Holocaust, and the Pink Triangle [At remember.org]
  Not an especially useful site, but provides links if you want to buy book on the subject.
• The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
  Includes information on the Nazi attacks on gays and lesbians.

Back to Contents

Chapter 17: Post-WW I Europe to 1990

Discussions: Entire Period

• The Law in England, 1290-1885, texts of the major laws.
• Paul Baker: Researching Polari, Scan [Lancaster University Student Mag.], Nov 15, 1996, [At Lancs.ac.uk]

Discussions: InterWar Years

• Frederick Luis Aldama: Lorca's Homographic Poetics of Nationalism, a paper presented at the (DIS)PLACING NATIONALISM CONFERENCE, UC Irvine, 18 May 1996 [At intersource.com]
• Cabaret Home Page [At Sure.net]
  CSUN Department of Theatre Presents Berlin between the wars at the height of decadence and change

Discussions: Entire Period since WWII

• Edmund White: on Jean Genet: Once a Sodomite: Twice a Philosopher, Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review 3:1 (Winter 1996) [At Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review]
• Mark Finch: Victim Victorious?, City Limits (London), November 1985, [At Planet Out]
  Reviews the history of gay film in the UK.

Discussions: 1950s

• Alan Turing [At QRD]
• Alan Turing, The Father of Computer Science, Homepage [At Oxford Univ.]
  Maintained by Alan Hodges, who wrote the important biography of Turing, The Enigma of the Intelligence.

Discussions: 1960s

• None as yet.

Discussions: Gay Rights Movement

• Andrew Hodges and David Hutter, With Downcast Gays, (1974) [At Oxford U.]
  Full text of an important analysis of the oppression of lesbians and gays.
• Bob Mellors - Obituary, April 13 1996, The Guardian [At Guardian site]
  A founding Member London GLF. Murdered.

Discussions: Gay Rights Movement Since Origins

• Lesbian and Gay Liberation Over The Years [London/UK] [At Pride.org.uk]
• London Pride 96 [At innotts.co.uk]
  Lots of picture, and history of 25 years of Pride Marches in London.
• Stefan Johansson: History of RFSL [Swedish Gay And Lesbian Group, In Swedish]
• L'affirmation homosexuelle (Le Monde diplomatique) JUIN 1996 - Page 29 [At Ina.fr]
  On Gay and Lesbian pride marches
• Chronologie der Lesben und Schwulen in Köln seit 1969 [At Macman.org]
• Gay Liberation Front in Köln [At Macman.org, In German]

Discussions: 1970s

• None as yet.

Discussions: 1980s

• Hart Murphy: FOUCAULT'S VIRTUAL PASSION [At www.ctheory.com]
  Review of James Miller, The Passion of Michel Foucault. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993. Pb: Anchor Doubleday, 1994.

Discussions: 1990s

• Yves ROUSSEL: Le mouvement homosexuel français face aux stratégies identitaires, Les Temps Modernes, mai-juin 1995 [At French QRD]

Texts:

• RFSL: Homosexuality Is Love: Lesbian and Gay the Swedish Way [At Chalmers.se]
  The text of a brochure produced by RFSL. [In English]
• Polari: British Gay Slang [At Cygnet]

Texts: Literary

• Constantine Cavafy (1863-1933): Index - selected poems [At digex.net]
  The Most important Greek poet of modern times.
• Constantine P. Cavafy (1863-1933): Poems in English and Greek [At Holonet.gr]
• Constantinos Cavafy (1863-1933): The Greek Poems As Translated by Memas Kolaitis [AT Glavx.org]
• Siegfried Sassoon : Counter-attack, and Other Poems [At Columbia]
• Siegfried Sassoon : The Old Huntsman, and Other Poems [At Columbia]
• Siegfried Sassoon : Sassoon, Siegfried: Picture-Show [At Columbia]
• Jean Genet (1910-1986):
• André Gide (1869-1951):
• E.M. Forster (1879-1970): Maurice
• Radclyffe Hall: The Well of Loneliness
• Christopher Isherwood (1904-1986):
  Alfred Corn: I Am a Diary, The Nation 02/10/97, [At The Nation]
  Review of Diaries, Volume One: 1939­1960. By Christopher Isherwood.
• W.H.: Auden (1907-1973): Poems
  W. H. Auden Page [At www.lit.kobe-u.ac.jp]
• Joe Orton (1933-1967):

Websites:

• Essays on Gay History and Literature by Rictor Norton
• British Legal History of Homosexuality - from Fleta (13th C. to 1967) [at Rowse History Centre.]
• The Pride Trust [UK] [At Pride.org.uk]
• German Gay and Lesbian Groups [At Macman.org]
• Etudes et ressources homosexuelles [At Swarthmore]
  Excellent guide to francophone countries and resources. [In French]

Back to Contents

Chapter 18: The United States and Canada to c.1900

Discussions: Whole Period

• David Bergman: The Gay/Lesbian Presence in American Literature, from Essays on Teaching the American Literatures: the Heath Anthology Newsletter [At Georgetown]
• John D'Emilio: "Capitalism and Gay Identity".

Discussions: Colonial Era

• John G. McClendon: Puritan Jurisprudence: Progress and Inconsistency [At Wavefront.com]
  A paper examining Puritan legal innovation and use of the Bible. Briefly addresses sodomy.
• Roger Schultz: A Celebration of Infidels: The American Enlightenment in the Revolutionary Era, Contra Mundum No. 1 Fall 1991
  Contra Mundum is a conservative Calvinist magazine. This article points out the Christian framework of much of colonial society, including its sex laws.

Discussions: Ante-Bellum American [1776-1865]

• David Dunlop, Was Abraham Lincoln "Gay" New York Times, Oct 1, 1995, [At fac.net]

Discussions: Late Nineteenth Century

• Amand M. Hale , A Brief Sketch Of The Life Of Maria Louise Pool, (1899) [At Burrows Com]
• Duane E. Jennings: Book Review: Same-Sex Dynamics among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example, by D. Michael Quinn, University of Illinois Press, [At ng.netgate.net/~jfirth]
• Leon Jackson: Walt Whitman and the Homoerotic Tradition, [At ferris.edu]
• Rictor Norton: Herman Melville's Novels [At Rictor Norton's website]

Texts: Historical

• Louis Dwight: Sodomy in Boston Prisons, 1824-1826
• Joseph Smith: Comfort for a Gay Lover 1843
  The founder of Mormonism was not apparently anti-gay.
• Joshua Speed: Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln:
  Speed was Lincoln's bed-mate for a number of years. Male intimacy was quite possible in the early 19th century without arising suspicions.

Texts: Literary

• Herman Melville (1819-1891): Letters to Nathaniel Hawthorne [at www.melville.org]
  Melville's most important emotional relationship seems to have been with Hawthorne. In one letter he claims "your heart beat in my ribs and mine in yours, and both in God's" -an idea of friendship that goes back to Aristotle. The site has links to all Melville's works.
• Walt Whitman (1819-1892): Leaves of Grass [At Columbia U.
  Singing of the "body electric".
• Walt Whitman (1819-1892): Leaves of Grass [At Virginia Tech]
• Emily Dickinson (1830-1886): Lesbian Poems

Websites:

• Poetry of Walt Whitman [At LI Global]
• Walt Whitman Hypertext Archive [At Jefferson Village]

Back to Contents

Chapter 19: Before Stonewall [US and Canada]

With the advent of the twentieth century the nature of LGBT history changes. As well as literature and court records, we now begin to have access to considerable oral history and recollection. Moreover the period since the late 19th century does indeed seem to have been marked by an increased interest in homosexuality by various elites - lawyers, doctors and a new arrival - "sexologists". The current job of North American LGBT history involves, for a great part, securing and writing down the oral histories before the bearers disappear.

Discussions: Entire Period

• Pierre J. Tremblay: The Homosexuality Factor in the Youth Suicide Problem [At netaxs.com]. There is another Mirror Version at QRD [At QRD]
  An extended presentation at the Sixth Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention, Banff, Alberta, October 11-14, 1995, (c) Oct. It includes a historical overview of .gay suicide 1930-1995
• James Sears: Stonewall South [At www.conterra.com/jsears]
  Brief history and timeline of Southern Lesbian and Gay history.

Discussions: Pre WW II

• Candace Falk: EMMA GOLDMAN: A GUIDE TO HER LIFE AND DOCUMENTARY SOURCES [At Berkeley]
• Henry L. Minton: Deconstructing Heterosexuality: Life Stories From Gay New York,1935-1941, History of Psychology Newsletter, Fall 1995, 27:3 [At Yorku.ca]
  [Presidential address presented to Division 26 at the 103rd Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association in New York, New York, Saturday, August 12, 1995.]

Discussions: Whole Post War Period

• John D'Emilio: Dreams Deferred: The Early American Homophile Movement, The Body Politic 48, November 1978; 50 February 1979, [At Carleton]
• David L. Kirp: Speak, Gay Memory, The Nation 7/15/96 [At The Nation]
  Reviews of Young Man From the Provinces: A Gay Life Before Stonewall By Alan Helmes, Midlife Queer: Autobiography of a Decade, 1971-1981 By Martin Duberman, Truth Serum. By Bernard Cooper.

Discussions: 1940s

• Christopher Isherwood: Diaries: LA in the 1940s and 1950s [extracts, at sure.net] or at alternate site [At Buzz Mag]
  "A decade after his death, the diaries of author Christopher Isherwood paint a lush-and louche-portrait of literary high life in L.A."
• Christopher Isherwood: On His Queerness [poem] [At sure.net]

Discussions: 1950s

• William Dubay: Homosexuality: What Kinsey Really Said [At McGill]
  Alfred Kinsey's studies of human sexual behavior revolutionized educated opinion I the 1950s. This article - favorable to Kinsey - explains what he said.
• History of The Kinsey Institute [At Indiana]
• Controversy over Kinsey's Research [At Indiana]
  In Fall 1995 the right wing Family Research Council began a series of attacks on Kinsey's research and the Kinsey Institute - attacks which included making films/videos and attempts to defund the institute. This page gives the Institutes response.
• Mark Y. Herring: Review Article: Phallacies and Other Lies: Freudian Fraud: The Malignant Effect of Freud's Theory on American Thought and Culture, By E. Fuller Torrey (New York, Ny: Harpercollins, 1992), Contra Mundum No. 9 Fall 1993 [At Contra Mundum]
  Contra Mundum is a conservative Calvinist magazine, but not "looney". This article presents the criticisms made by conservatives of Freud, as well as Kinsey and Margaret Mead.
• The Moral Debate on Homosexuality [At dallas.net]
  This is a link to an anti-gay page. The page is useful though: first, People With a Story takes a stand in favor of openness; second the page points to various right wing articles criticizing the work and methodology of Alfred Kinsey and Evelyn Hooker; third, the page does not point to any of the Kinsey Institute's responses. This one-sidedness is typical of the Radical Religious Right "scholarship" on homosexuality. The article by on Evelyn Hooker by Thomas Landess, (cited as former Academic Dean at the University of Dallas) is an especially good example of weak analysis - it hilariously cites the discredited Paul Campbell as an "analyst" on Hooker's work!.
• Jim Kepner: The Women of ONE [At USC]
  Kepner documents women involved in ONE, Inc and challenges the notion that before the Daughters of Bilitis started (San Francisco 1955) thehomophile movement, as it was then known, was almost entirely white-male, and the rare women participants were expected to make coffee.."..
• Harry Hay Profile [At QSanFrancisco]
  Founder of the Mattachine Society and the Radical Faeries. Still alive, but already a mythic figure.
• Kate Brandt: Lisa Ben: A Lesbian Pioneer, [At Qworld]
  Lisa Ben was a pseudonymous author connected with the Daughters of Bilitis
• Biography of Del Martin [At Apple.com]
  A founder of the Daughters of Bilitis
• James T. Sears: Growing up as a Jewish Lesbian in South Florida: Queer Teen Life in the Fifties, from Cultured Youth, ed. Joe Austin (New York: NYU Press, 1997)
  A complex account of the homophobia of the period.
• Daniel Gomes : "SISSY" BOYS AND "UNHAPPY" GIRLS: CHILDREARING DURING THE COLD WAR [At USSB]
• Jeff Jones: The Extraordinary Life of Sweet Evening The Life of 1950s Transgendered Male in Kentucky Profiled [At QRD]

Discussions: 1960s

• James L. Bauman: Cold War Sources. Reviews in American History 23.4 (1995) 734-738 [At Johns Hopkins]
  Discusses inter alia the pro-Vietnam war columnist Joeseph Alsop, who was queer.

Texts

• The Kinsey Scale [At intranet.org]
  Dr. Alfred Kinsey created a scale, graduated between heterosexuality and homosexuality to rate individuals on actual experiences and psychological reactions. It had a major effect on thought about sexuality.
• Homosexuals in Government, 1950. A brief, but very explicit, excerpt from the U.S. Congressional Record vol 96, part 4 [81st Congress 2nd Session March 29 -- April 24, 1950] [At UPenn]
• Harry Hay: Our Own Faerie Way Crossroads 42, June 1994 [At Berkeley]
  Harry Hay's recollections of the founding of the Mattachine Society, and the importance of Radical Left politics in its creators' analysis of society.

Texts: Literary

• Sara Teasdale (1884-1933): Flame and Shadow [At Project Gutenberg]
• Sara Teasdale (1884-1933):Helen of Troy, and Other Poems [At Project Gutenberg]
• Sara Teasdale (1884-1933):Love Songs [At Project Gutenberg]
• Sara Teasdale (1884-1933):Rivers to the Sea [At Michigan]
• Sara Teasdale (1884-1933):Sonnets to Duse, and Other Poems [At Michigan]
• Willa Catha (1876-1947): My Antonia [At CMU]
• Willa Catha (1876-1947): O Pioneers! [At Project Gutenberg]
• Willa Catha (1876-1947): The Professor's House [At Michigan]
• Willa Catha (1876-1947): The Song of the Lark [At Wiretap]
• Willa Catha (1876-1947): The Troll Garden and Selected Stories [At Project Gutenberg]
• Willa Catha (1876-1947): Youth and the Bright Medusa [At Virgina]
• Poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)[At Sappho.com]
• Poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) [At UMD]
• Poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) [At Internet Wiretap]
• Langston Hughes (1902-1967): Selected Works [At VT]

Websites:

• The Kinsey Institute [At U. Indiana]
• The Ninth Street Center
  A web site devoted to the thought of Paul Rosenfels, a Chicago-based psychiatrist who, after breaking with psychoanalysis in the 1940's, developed his own ideas about human relationships. The Ninth Street Center was founded in 1973 to teach Rosenfel's Jungiinfluenced ideas. Rosenfels was, the page claims, the first American social scientist to defend homosexuality in print.
• Tides of Men: History of Gay Men in British Columbia Since 1936 [At LesBiGay.com]
• It's a Hughes Thang [At U. Textas]
  Langston Hughes Page
• The Literature and Culture of the American 1950s [At Upenn]. Not gay focused, but provides great background.

Back to Contents

Chapter 20: Stonewall and All That

Discussions:

• Robert Amsel: A Walk on the Wild Side (The Advocate, Sept 15, 1987), [At CMU]
  A discussion of the importance of the "Stonewall Myth".
• STONEWALL: The Historical Event: Some Reflections [At QRD]
• STONEWALL [At roughcut.com]
  You can download a clip [5.1 M] of the film by Nigel Finch STONEWALL (Strand)

Texts:

• Jerry Lisker, "Homo Nest Raided: Queen Bees are Stinging". Daily News (New York), July 6, 1969 [At CMU]
  Account of Stonewall riots in the Daily News.
• Documents from the 1969 Furor
  Early gay liberation flyers and manifestos, and the emergence of the Gay Liberation Front in July 1969.

Websites:

• WebLink: Photos of Modern LGB History At UMD
  Including Stonewall Vets.

Back to Contents

Chapter 21: Stonewall to Today [US and Canada]

Discussions: Entire Post Stonewall Period

• Scott, The Evolution of the Homosexual Rights Movement in the United States, April 15, 1993, [At paranoia.com]
• History of Professional Organizations on Homosexuality [At religioustolerance.org]
• Anti "Sodomy" Laws in the U.S., state by state [At CMU]
• A Chronicle of Freedom of Expression in Canada [At MacMaster]
  Goes back to 1914.
• Christine Szikla: Lesbianism: Dispelling the Myths, first appeared as "Public OpinionTowards The Lesbian", Geelong Association of Students Inc. Women's Department Newsletter #4, 1996. pp.12-14 [At WISE]
• Yvonne Welbon: Black Lesbian Film and Video Art: Feminism Studies, Performance Studies [At UIC]
• Cathy Griggers: Lesbian Bodies in the Age of (Post)mechanical Reproduction [At CMU]
• Kerry Fried: Lesbian Fictions: Straight or Narrow? [AT MIT]

Discussions: 1970s

• David Bianco: Past Out: How Did Homosexuality Lose Its Official Status As A Mental Illness? [At Gayly Oklahoman]
• Biron: ADVOCATE: Capitalist Manifesto, GAY SUNSHINE (San Francisco, Spring.1976) [At photos-biron.com]
  A gay liberationist critique of The Advocate, the biggest and longest lasting American gay publication.
• Adina Lack: Representing Sexuality: The Politics of Lesbian-Feminist Poetry During the 1970s 1993 [At CMU]
  This book contains an account of the emergence and history of Lesbian feminism.
• Ann Ferguson: "Patriarchy, Sexual Identity, and the Sexual Revolution" in Signs. (1981) 7:1, 158-172. [At WISE]
• Gregory Rosamita: Harvey Milk: The Forgotten Populist [At Hicomm.net]
  An essay on the murdered San Francisco politician's Milk's politics.
• Ron Williams: I Remember Harvey [At Webcastro.com]

Discussions: 1980s

• Rodney Jackson, THE 80'S IN REVIEW, from The Washington Blade 12/29/89 [AT GLINN]
• Pat Califia: The Obscene, Disgusting, and Vile Meese Commission Report, 1986 [At CMU]
• Michael Swift The Gay Revolutionary,from Gay Community News, Feb. 15-21, 1987
  This text, printed in the Congressional Record is cited, apparently verbatim, by the religious right as evidence of the "Gay Agenda". But when they cite it they always omit, as does the CR, the vital preface, which sets the context for the piece. In other words, every other version of this found on the net is part of the radical right's great lie about gay people. (see the "Modern Homophobia" Section below for more on this).

Discussions: 1990s

• Mariana Romo-Carmona: Civic Duty in the Age of Space Probes Crossroads 42, June 1994 [At Berkeley]
  Examines the complexities of the lesbian and gay population's desire for acceptance into the mainstream.
• Elizabeth Stroud: Our Cultural Supernova Crossroads 42, June 1994 [At Berkeley]
  On the conflict between radicalizing and mainstreaming in LGBT organizing.
• Marcy Rein: Bi-Bi Love, Bi-Bi Politics Crossroads 42, June 1994 [At Berkeley]
  Thoughts on Stonewall 25
• Howard Wallace: An Injury To One Crossroads 42, June 1994 [At Berkeley]
  On the need for workers of all colors to move to the forefront of LGBT politics. See also the AFL-CIO on Stonewall in Crossroads 42, June 1994 [At Berkeley] - passed unanimously October 6, 1993 at the 20th Constitutional Convention of the AFL-CIO
• B.W. Cook: October Barry Goldwater [At orangecoast.com]
  On Conservative icon Barry Goldwater's endorsement of gay rights in the 1990s.
• Freya Johnson: Holy Homosexuality Batman!: Camp and Corporate Capitalism in Batman Forever [At CMU]
• Steven Wishnia: Gay Rights & Weed, High Times, October 1996 [At High Times]
• Gay History Forum/Seattle with Kevin Jennings

Regional/Local Development

• Jim Sears' Gay and Lesbian Regional History Page [at www.conterra.com/jsears]
• New York Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center: NYC Guide
  Guide to LGBT New York - presents the gamut of organizations
• Private Faces, Public Lives: Boston Gay and Lesbian History
• Rhode Island Gay History [At QRD]
• Lexington's Gay Past: A History and Geography of Gay Lexington [Kentucky]
• Gay and Lesbian Indianapolis [At gayindy.org]
  An example of the interconnections of LGBT groups, business and people in one midwestern city.
• New Orleans Gay Mardi Gras History
• Austin Gay & Lesbian Timeline 1968 to 1983 [At U Texas]
• Northwest Lesbian and Gay History Project [At eskimo.com]
• 21 Years of Seattle Gay Pride [At webqorqs.com]
• Gay and Lesbian Historical Society of Northern California
• San Francisco in the '70s [At planetsoma.com]
• The Castro/KQED Site
  PBS sites - explores the development of the Castro gay community.
• Uncle Donald's Castro Street,
  The history, with pictures, of San Francisco's gay ghetto.
• Bill Oliver: Never Forget - Alameda CA History [At OutNow]
• Lesbian Herstory Project/Los Angeles Chronology 1970/90 [AT USC]
• Walking After Midnight: Gay Men's Oral History [Canada] [At Carleton.ca]
• EGALE Canada (Equality For Gays & Lesbians Everywhere) [At Islandnet.com]
  Canadian LGBT rights organization. The site includes a list of significant Canadian legal cases.

Organizational Development

The development of a huge array of diverse LGBT organizations - student, religious, social, cultural, political - is of prime importance in understanding the creation and strengthening of the LGBT movement since 1969. This has hardly been touched on as an area of research. Often the groups are not long lived, or not spectacular, nor even very radical. But their continued proliferation and creation of social and communal threads is impressive. Many of them have taken to documenting their own history on the web - sometimes via time lines, other times via narratives.

• Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington DC Homepage [At glaa.org]
  GLAA is one of the oldest continuously active gay organization in the United States. Founded on April 20, 1971, as the Gay Activists Alliance Fighting for Equal Rights Since 1971 GLAA, an all-volunteer, non-partisan, non-profit political organization, was founded in 1971 to advance the equal rights of gay men and lesbians. Its homepage includes current affairs and historical information. See especially the timeline.
• Columbia-Barnard Lesbian Bisexual Gay Coalition [At Columbia]
  Founded in 1967 as the "Student Homophile League" it is the oldest LGB student organization in the US.
• Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay Student Association [At Ball State U.]
  At Ball State University located in Muncie, Indiana. With group history.
• Carleton University LGBT Pages [At Carleton.ca]
  With history coverage.
• The GLBT Resource Center History. University of Colorado [At Colorado]
• Duke University Archives. Inventory Duke Gay, Bisexual, and LesbianAssociation [At Duke]
  Basic info.
• Duke's Gay History [At Duke]
• Queer Harvard [At Harvard]
  With links to a large number of Harvard LGB groups
• Harvard Gay and Lesbian Caucus [At HLGC.ORG]
• Moving Forward: Lesbians and Gay Men at Michigan State University [At MSU]
• QUEERING THEORY AT MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE [At Middlebury]
  Unhappy account of gay history at Middlebury.
• GALA-ND/SMC! [At galandsmc.org]
  Gay And Lesbian Alumni/ae of the University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary's College. It includes an account of the enormous struggle LGBTs at these Catholic colleges had to go through.
• The Ohio State U Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Alliance [At OSU]
  With an effort to document the 20 year history of the group
• Princeton LGB Pages [At Princeton]
• USD's Gay Lesbian Bisexual Alliance [At USD]
  University of South Dakota's Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Alliance
• Indiana Youth Group [At gayindy.org]
• NENET Information Site [At Nenet]
  NENET was The New England Network of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trangender College Students from the Spring of 1993 until the Spring of 1995.
• Gerard Koskovich: History of Gays and Lesbians at Stanford: From Passionate Friendship to Gay Liberation at Stanford 1891 1974 [At Stanford]
  Text for an exhibit at Green Library, Stanford University, July-October 1994
• WVU BiLGM History [At WVU]
• LGBLSA Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Law Students' Association [ At Yale]
• History of San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus
• History of Chicago Gay Men's Chorus
• Old Lesbians Organizing for Change [At Apple.com]
• LEAGUE Home Page [At League]
  AT&T employees group - one of the first employer based LGBT organizations.
• 25 Years: Highlights of Dignity/USA's History. [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
• Dignity at 25: Fr. Jim Mallon. [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
  Philadelphia Gay News article on Dignity at 25, concentrating on the witness of Fr. Jim Mallon.
• United Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches Page [At UFMCC]
  Probably the largest LGBT organization in the Americas.
• List of Links to LGBT Jewish Congregations [At etz-chaim.com]
• Affirmation Gay Lesbian Mormons: History [At ng.netgate.net/~jfirth]
• Marvelous Persimon's Radical Faerie Homepage [at eskimo.com]
  Inlcudes an informative FQA - "frequently questioned answers" and a RF "hiss-tory". Links to other RF and gay pagan sites.
• Tom Kwai Lam: Gay Men and Magic: the Radical Faeries [at got.net]
  A book in progress. Includes raw interviews with founders.
• A Brief History of the Gay Games [At www.backdoor.com/CASTRO]
• History of GLAAD [At www.glaad.org]
• Lesbian.org [At www.lesbian.org]
  Includes accounts of various Lesbian Avenger groups, and a history of Dyke marches.

Cultural Tropes

• Handkerchief Code Page [At Netjojo.com]
  A complete interactive guide to the handkerchief codes used by a few gay men in the late seventies.
• Bear History Project [At www.tiac.net/users/codybear]
  An archive that seeks to study and document the "bear" movement.
• Charle's Hynes Radical Sex Page [At fifth-mountain.com]
• Patricia Leonardi: Review: Last Call at Maud's, Cineaste 20:1 (Wntr, 1993):46 [At UCB]
  On the closing of a famed San Francisco Lesbian Bar
• Wigstock Page
• William J. Mann: Courting ritual [At Boston Phoenix]
  On the "imperial court" drag fundraising phenomenon.

Texts:

• American Psychiatric Association: Policy Statements on Lesbian and Gay Issues [At APA]
  APA statements over the years on LGBT issues.
• Legal Age of Consent Around the World [At pinkboard.com.au]
• Rocky O'Donovan: ECCE HOMO: Ruminations on a Theology of My Queer Body [At www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/1942/ecce.html]
  How the Mormon church dealt with a gay boy in the late 1970s.
• Stephen Donaldson: Testimony at Massachusetts Legislative Hearing of 5/23/94 [At spr.org].
  On the issue and history of prison rape.
• Patrick J. Buchanan: Speech Republican National Convention in Houston, Texas, 1992 [At Buchanan.org]
  Virulently homophobic [among other things] speech which helped Bill Clinton win in 1992.
• Bowers v. Hardwick June 30, 1996 [At QRD]
  The US Supreme Court decision which upheld the legality of US states' sodomy laws.
• Romer Vs. Evans May 20, 1996 [At glaa.org]
  The extremely important US Supreme Court decision, by Justic Anthony Kennedy, which overturned the anti-gay Colorado 'Amendment 2'. This decision, which incidentally sees the formal use of "gay" and "lesbian" by the highest levels of the US government, finally established the legal foundation for prohibition of anti-gay bias. It specifically accepts that gays and lesbians are a social group worthy of protection.
• QRD Legal Page
  For other legal decision texts, and commentary, see this regularly updated page at QRD.

Texts: Literary

With the rise of the modern LGBT movement literature by and about LGBT's has flourished as never before. Gay bookstores now carry thousands of titles. But at the same time literature has become less central to analyzing historical issues, since so much other data is available. The texts below are ones texts [and links to reviews] which have had an especially important effect on the development of LGB culture.

• James Baldwin: Giovanni's Room
  David Van Leer: "The Fire Last Time: Review Essay on James Baldwin: A Biography by David Leeming", The New Republic February 13, 1995
• Rita May Brown: Rubyfruit Jungle
• William Burroughs: Naked Lunch, Queer
• Andrew Hollaran: Dancer from the Dance
• Larry Kramer: Faggots, The Normal Heart [play]
• Tony Kushner: Angels in America
  Peter Dully: Counting The Bastards: The Problem of Origins in "A Gay Fantasia on National Themes", a paper to be presented at the (DIS)PLACING NATIONALISM CONFERENCE, UC Irvine, 18 May 1996 [At intersource.com]
• David Leavitt:
  Mun-Hou Lo: David Leavitt and the Etiological Maternal Body, Modern Fiction Studies 41:3-4 [At jhupress.jhu.edu]
• Armistead Maupin: Tales of the City series
• John Rechy: City of the Night
• Adrienne Rich Poems and Works [At U. Indiana]
• Martin Shaw: Bent [play]
• Edmund White:
  Owen Keehnen: States of Desire: Living, Loving and Writing with Edmund White, Outlines Chicago January 1996 [At Outlines]

Websites:

• The Question of Equality
  Website on a series of four films examining post-1969 LGBT life
• Scenes from the 1993 March on Washington
• Stonewall 25 March [1994]
• Stonewall 25 Site [at Actwin]
• Harvey Milk Page [At PlanetSoma] - lots of pictures.
• The Harvey Milk Page Extensive text, pictures, and further links.
• A Tribute to Audre Lourde [At Colorado]
• Black Lesbian and Gay History Project [At QRD]

Back to Contents

Chapter 22: The Lesbian and Gay Movement in Europe

Discussions:

• The Lesbian and Gay Movement [At Rowse History Centre]
  Also covers some US movements, but focus is on the UK.
• Lawrence Driscoll: The Rose Revived: Derek Jarman and The English Tradition [At Intersource.com]
  A long review article of the work of Derek Jarman, probably the most well-known gay British filmmaker.

Texts

• Gay Liberation Front: Manifesto (London, 1971, as revised 1979)
  Classic example of Gay Liberationist analysis. Parts of it still read as provocative, other parts seem dated - for instance its attack on "butch/femme" culture!
• James Kirkup: The Love That Dares. [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
  This poem, published in Gay News was [and is] banned in Britain under the use of an ancient blasphemous libel law. The banning was fought, unsuccessfully, all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. Recently attempts have been made to prosecute British websites which link to the American location of this poem, where it is protected by the First Amendment (Thank you Mr. Madison!)..
• The Alsop Review: Background Information on the Love That Dares [At Hooked.net]
  This page contains British press reports of the closing down of the LGCM website, and some obituaries of Denis Lemon, the editor of Gay News and chief defendant. It also links to the poem and to a picture of Kirkup.
• Legal Age of Consent Around the World [At pinkboard.com.au]

Websites:

• OutRage
  UK activist group web site, with documentation of past and current LGBT issues in the UK.

Back to Contents

Chapter 23: The Lesbian and Gay Movement in Australia and New Zealand

Discussions:

• New Zealand Gay History Case, [At Queer Pages at Aikiko International]
• Christopher N Kendall: Homophobia as an Issue of Sex Discrimination: Lesbian and Gay Equality and the Systemic Effects of Forced Invisibility, E Law - Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law, Vol 3, No 3 (September 1996) [At www.murdoch.edu.au/elaw/]
• Stephen Lawton: Patterns of safe sex knowledge, sexual practice, and sexual identity in a sample of men-who-have-sex-with-men: a social context approach [At Australian QRD]
  Addresses modern history of AIDS in Australia.
• Jane Anna Langley: Transexual Power, 1994 [At Australian QRD]

Texts

• Chronology of New Zealand Gay History [At Queer Pages at Aikiko International]
• The Story of Tutanekai and Tiki (New Zealand Maoris) [At Queer Pages at Aikiko International]
• Legal Age of Consent Around the World [At pinkboard.com.au]

Websites:

• Australian Gay History Page
• Sydney Gay History Home Page
• Sydney Gay History Homosexual Walk

Back to Contents

Chapter 24: Gay and Lesbian Politics in Latin America

Discussions:

• None as yet

Texts

• Brazilian Workers Party Position Paper on Homosexuality, [At PT website, in English]
• Legal Age of Consent Around the World [At pinkboard.com.au]

Websites:

• Arenal: A Spanish LGB Resources Guide [English opening page]
• Latin American Countries and LGB Rights: Country By Country Guide [At Arenal]
• Rakiduam: Pensamientos de La Comunidad Spanish Language site on Latin America.

Back to Contents

Chapter 25: AIDS and History

Discussions:

• Joshua Oppenheimer: "Movements, Markets, and the Mainstream: AIDS politics, queer politics, and the gay and lesbian commercial scenes", paper at Acting on Aids: Activism Conference, ICA London, March 1996 [At ICA]
• Sarah Schulman Fiction and Action in the Age of Aids, Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review 4:2 (Spring 1997) [At Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review]
• Thomas L. Long: AIDS and American Apocalypticism: Discourse, Performance, and the Cultural Production of Meaning in New York City, 1981-1996 [Dissertation] [At Long's Homepage]
• The Armed Forces and AIDS [At thebody.com]
• Stephen Lawton: Patterns of safe sex knowledge, sexual practice, and sexual identity in a sample of men-who-have-sex-with-men: a social context approach [At Australian QRD]
  Addressed modern history of AIDS in Australia.
• Gabriel Rotello: Creating a New Gay Culture: Balancing Fidelity & Freedom, The Nation, 04/21/97 [At The Nation]
  Rotello opposes sexual liberation in favor of a better "ecology". Summarizes the political parts of his book Sexual Ecology.
• Martin Duberman: Epidemic Arguments, The Nation 05/05/97 [At The Nation]
  Review of Sexual Ecology: AIDS and the Destiny of Gay Men, By Gabriel Rotello.
  Duberman is respectful of Rotello, whose argument he summarizes, but he also points to Rotello's conflation of historical data.
• Jeanne Bergman: Saving Sex, The Nation 06/24/96 [At The Nation] Review of Fatal Advice: How Safe-Sex Education Went Wrong. By Cindy Patton.
• Gabriel Rotello: The Twilight of AIDS? The Nation 12/23/96 [At The Nation]
  "New AIDS drugs and approaches offer hope -- but only for some, and only in part." One get the impression that no news could be good for Rotello.

Texts:

• None as yet

Websites:

• The Body: A Multimedia AIDS and HIV Information Resource
• Déja Vu: AIDS in Historical Perspective [At CBC Radio]
  A CBC documentary
• AIDS In Historical Perspective [At CBC Radio] - extensive bibliographical guide to AIDS and other diseases in history.
• AIDS History Project Collections [At University of Cal/SF]
• The AIDS Quilt/Names Project
  An effort to record the names of people who died of HIV.
• THE AIDS MEMORIAL QUILT
  Pictures of quilts.

Back to Contents

Chapter 26: ACT UP

ACT UP, which began in New York in Spring1987 is important as part of AIDS history, lesbian and gay history, and the history of medicine. For the first time the "victims: of a disease, met with condescension and disdain by governmental and medical establishment successfully organized a political and investigative revolution. In the process ACT UP spun off chapters of its original NY parent all around the globe, a whole series of radical practical help organizations, and revitalized the radicalism of lesbian and gay politics [even as, annoyingly, its largely lesbian and gay members complained each time the NY Times referred to ACT UP as a "gay organization"].

ACT UP achieved its goals [and it did achieve many of them] through spectacular street theater and much hard backroom work. It was quite common in the late eighties to see members slogging away at research in the New York Public Library on a whole array of subjects. It is not often realized that ACT UP's press releases contained as much work as its graphics. Sometimes its tactics shocked: but the shock of ACT UP gave it real power. It got a voice at the table; it reduced health insurance costs; it made needle exchange a viable policy; it transformed the way drugs were assessed. In then end, ACT UP did save lives, even as thousands, including hundreds of its own members, died

The history of ACT UP is only now being written: its archives are with the NY Public Library and will be open for research. There will be debates about who was important, and what, if anything, went wrong. But it will be a shame if the sheer courage and bravery of its members is ever overlooked. For all the toughness, for all the beatings its members received from the police, no ACT UP member resorted to violence. But more, in the 1980's, an age when college kids around the United States asserted that their highest goal was "to join a financial planning corporation", ACT UP members demonstrated again and again that there is meaning in human lives.

Discussions:

• Ron Goldberg: ACT UP's First Days [At Poz]

Texts:

• ACT UP - Documents Page

Websites:

• ACT UP/New York
• POZ Magazine, Issue 21
  On the history of ACT UP

Back to Contents

Chapter 27: The Queer Moment

Discussions:

• Alan Sears: After Queer Nation Which Way Forward For Lesbian and Gay Liberation?, Socialist Worker (Canada) October 1992 [At QRD]
• Doug Sadownick: Queer Nation is Dead LA Weekly, October, 199? [At QRD]
• Jesse Heiwa: Queer Liberation: Expressing Our Outrage
• Jesse Heiwa, FROM STONEWALL TO SELLOUT?: Radical queers hold the line against creeping cooptation [At echonyc]
• Daniel Teodoro Contreras: Confessions of a Queer Chicano Nationalist Abstract of a paper presented at the (DIS)PLACING NATIONALISM CONFERENCE, UC Irvine, 18 May 1996, [At intersource.com]
• Queer Nation [At alt.culture]
  Short description.
• Outing [At alt.culture]

Texts:

• Queers Read This/I Hate Straights June 1990, [At QRD].
  Distributed by "Anonymous Queers" at the 1990 LG Pride March in New York. It was distributed from the ACT UP float, by ACT UP members acting without "floor" support, but soon came to be associated with "Queer" politics.
• Queers Read This [Html format, At GALA, Georgia Tech]
• A Structure for Queer Nation -- DRAFT, by Boston Queer Nation,15 September 1990 [At QRD]
• Queer Nation Seattle Disbands 5 February 1995, Press Release [At QRD]

Websites:

• QRD: Queer Nation Archive

Back to Contents

Chapter 28: North America: Current Politics and Strategies

Discussions:

• Henry Louis Gates: Blacklash?, The New Yorker [Date?] [At CMU]
  Examines the interconnections and differences between Black and Lesbian/Gay/Bi movements.
• Where The Military's Antipathy to Homosexuals Comes From, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 31, 1993 [At nasa.gov]
• GAO Report on Homosexuals in the Military
• American Civil Liberties Union Briefing Paper Number 18: LESBIAN AND GAY RIGHTS, [At aclufl.org]

Texts: LGB History

• Archive of Current Press Reports on LGBT Issues [At fc.net]
  An subject-organized, and soon to be searchable, archive of full-text press reports on current lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans* issues: gays in the military; lesbian and gay marriage; legislation: religion - it's all here. Mostly US, but some international coverage.

Texts: Modern Homophobia

• Pope John Paul II's war on gays and lesbians. [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
• Jeff Vos: The Homosexual Threat, 1995 [Full text]Classic homophobic Mein Kampf (although this text is overtly anti-semitic, asserting that Jews are more neurotic than other groups, etc.).
• William Donahue: Gays, Giuliani, and Catholics. [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
  article from CRISIS magazine in which the head of the Catholic League - he has an office next to Cardinal O'Connor - gives his bigoted opinions about the annual NYC Lesbian and Gay Rights March.
• Homosexual deathstyle
  An example of modern Rightwing homophobia
• Pastor Peter Daniels: Death Penalty for Homosexuals [At Logoplex]
  A Christian pastor calls for homosexuals to be killed.

Websites:

• Gays and Lesbians in the Military
• Servicemembers Legal Defense Network- a legal aid and watchdog organization for people targeted by the military ban.
• A Lover of Soldier's Page - Steven Zeeland's distinctive website which mixes quite serious research with sheer eroticism.
• Gay and Lesbian Politics WWW Guide, by Steve Sanders [At U Indiana]
  A great listing of resources.
• Marl Gray's Sex Laws Page
  Uptodate information on sex laws
• Camille Paglia Page [At AOL]
• Family Research Council Policy Papers [At FRC]
  The FRC is a Radical Religious Right think-tank. It makes its papers, speeches, etc. available on the net - a useful resource for documenting modern homophobia.

Back to Contents

Chapter 29: Europe: Current Politics and Strategies

Discussions:

• Campaign for Romanian Lesbian & Gay Human Rights Overview of the current situation in Romania, probably the worse place for gay people in Europe.

Texts:

• Survey of Legal Situation of Gays and Lesbians in Europe [At uni-c.dk]
• Petição pela Igualdade de Direitos dos Homossexuais Petetion to Portuguese Parliament in Portuguese.

Websites:

• International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission
• IGLHRC On-line Resources
  A really valuable list of central LGB information web sites around the world. Many national groups maintain resource guides in English as well as their national languages.
• Archive of International Lesbian and Gay Press Stories, by Rex Wockner.
  All of Wockner's stories since 1994, searchable in a variety of ways.
• Gai Pied Archives [At www.gaipied.fr/gph/]
  Full text of Gai Pied, the leading French gay magazine since 1986!
  "The Gai Pied ARCHIVES give you an unprecedented access to the complete set of Gai Pied Hebdo back numbers. At a click the summaries, the articles and interviews, etc. You can research by volume number, date and even by searching words in the fully indexed articles.
• International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Campaign. Emergencey Response Network
  The archive gives info on recent crises
• SETA, the Finnish organization of sexual equality. [In English]

Back to Contents

Chapter 30: The Impact of LGBT Identity Politics Outside the West

Discussions:

• Dennis Altman: On Global Queering [Australian Humanities Review]
  With Responses from Gary Dowsett , Michael Tan, Donald Morton , Christopher Lane, David Halperin and Fran Martin
• Graham C Reed: ALUTA CONTINUA: possible pedagogical strategies for combating homophobic and heterosexist discourses in the South African education system, Rhodes University, March/April 1996 [At www.ru.ac.za]
• Seiichi M. Sunday: Tokyo's 1st Gay Parade, from Outrageous Tokyo: Japan's English Language Gay magazine, Nov 1994, [At shrine.cyber.ad.jp/~darrell/]
• Homosexuality Legalized in Russia 1997 [At U. Glasgow]
• Angelo Presicci: Cracks in the Iron Closet, Travels in Gay and Lesbian Russia [At Hrcn.com]
  Review of David Tuller's book.

Texts:

• Edward Carpenter (1884-1929): Iolaus: An Anthology of Friendship [chapters on Africa]
• South African Constitutional Assembly Page [At Constitution.org, SA]
• South African Constitution [At Constitution.org, SA]
  Section 9.(3) is the first constitutional guarantee of protection for LGBs in the world
• ZIMBABWE ANTI GAY WITCHHUNT 1996 [At Xmission.com]
• Manifesto of 1996 Chinese Tongzhi Conference [At HKGAY]
  "Tongzhi" is being used in Chinese for Gay. This manifesto directly asserts a historical basis for modern Chinese homosexuals and the differences of Chinese Tongzhi movements with western gay movements.
• Legal Age of Consent Around the World [At pinkboard.com.au]

Websites:

• IGLHRC On-line Resources
  A really valuable list of central LGB information web sites around the world.
• Archive of International Lesbian and Gay Press Stories, by Rex Wockner.
  All of Wockner's stories since 1994, searchable in a variety of ways.
• Russian Gay History by Kevin Moss, [At Middlebury]
  Fairly developed site, with Russian gay links.
• Lambda Istanbul
  The Turkisk GLB group maintains an extensive web site - located at New Zealand's QRD. Includes newspaper accounts in both English and Turkish.
• Gay Hong Kong
  An elaborate site. God for current information
• Gaynet Japan
  Commercial site

Back to Contents

Chapter 31: Cross Cultural Themes and Studies

Discussions:

• Molefi Asante: Interview on Homosexuality, on THIS WAY OUT [At QRD]
  Asante, a leading proponent of Afrocentrism, had long called homosexuality a western deviation. He has now publically changed his mind, as more information about African gender/sexuality has come to light.
• Matthew Quest : Afrocentricity vs. Homosexuality: The Isis Papers [At UNM]
  A critique of Frances Cress Welsing's The Isis Papers.
• Gays: Guardians of the Gates, An Interview with Malidoma Som, M.E.N. Magazine, September 1993 [At Afrinet]
  Malidoma Som is charged by his elders of the Dagara tribe of Burkina Faso with bringing the wisdom of his tribe to the West. His book Ritual: Power, Healing and Community. Malidoma notes "among the Dagara people, gender has very little to do with anatomy. It is purely energetic. In that context, a male who is physically male can vibrate female energy, and vice versa… And this is something that also touches on what has become known here as the "gay" or "homosexual" issue. Again, in the culture that I come from, this is not the issue. These people are looked on, essentially, as people. The whole notion of "gay" does not exist in the indigenous world. That does not mean that there are not people there who feel the way that certain people feel in this culture, that has led to them being referred to as 'gay'…The gay person is looked at primarily as a 'gatekeeper.'"
• Alex Bruzzone: Erections and Ejaculations: Overcomming the taboo [At Carleton.ca]
  Cross-cultural considerations, including some coments on Herdt's work with the Sambia of Papua New Guinea.
• Love In World History. An H-Net Discussion [At Hnet]

Texts:

• None as yet

Websites:

• None as yet

Back to Contents

Special Themes 1: Same Sex Marriage

Discussions:

• Paul Halsall: Same-Sex Marriage Through History and Culture [Jan, 1996]
• William Eskridge: The Case for Same-Sex Marriage: Chapter 2: The History of Same-Sex Marriage. [At Simonsays.com]
  The entire "history" chapter from Eskridge's book.
• The History of Lesbian Unions [At SassyFemme]
• Jillian Sandell: The Cultural Necessity of Queer Families, Bad Subjects Issue #12 March 1994 [At Bad Subjects]
• "Holy Matrimony" [At gfreinds.com]
  A lesbian take on same-sex marriage
• E.J. Graff: Retying the Knot: Isn't it time marriage was gender-blind?, The Nation 06/24/96 [At The Nation]
• Robert Aitken: Gay marriage from a Buddhist perspective [At OutNow]
  Aitken is an important figure in American Zen. His discussion here is mainly directed at modern concerns, but he discusses the history.

Texts:

• Two Versions of Rite of Adelphopoiia [At Medieval Sourcebook]
• The Life of St. Theodore of Sykeon (7th Cent.), Chapters 134-135.
  An adelphopoiia relationship is established between St. Theodore and Patriarch Thomas of Constantinople.
• Chin Bratotvoreniyu [At QRD]
  Old Church Slavonic text of the Rite of Brotherhood, abbreviated, with standard liturgical prayers (most of Litany, Antiphons, etc.) omitted. Cf. Jacobus Goar, Euchologion (1st ed., Paris 1647; 2nd ed., Venice 1730), pp. 706-709, s.v. "Akolouthia eis Adelphopoiian Pneumatiken." From: Velikii Potrebnik, printed by Edinovertsii in Moscow (Now called Belokrinitsky Hierarchy of Old Rite), in the year 1904. Transcribed by Nikita Syrnikov. Translated by Fr. Basil Isaacks April 1, 1995.
• Church of Greece on Adelphopoiia [At QRD]
• Montaigne: A Homosexual Marriage in Rome, [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook].
  Account of a homosexual marriage in 16th-century Rome by Montaigne.
• Metropolitan Community Church: Holy Union Liturgy [At UFMCC]

Websites:

• Domestic Partnership and Marriage [At CMU]

Back to Contents

Special Themes 2: Bisexuality

In a sense, much of the history claimed by "lesbians and gays" is a history of people who were functionally bisexual. In particular many of the famous names on lists of "famous homosexuals" were sexually active with both men and women. However, it also seems to be true that a clearly, or even hazily, formulated "bisexual" social identity is even more recent than "homosexual" and "heterosexual" identities. I will correct this statement if it is shown to be wrong, but specifically "bisexual" organizations seem only to have existed since the 1970s.

This relatively new formulation does not mean that there is no "history" of bisexuality. There have been voices in the past which have proclaimed a need for sexual freedom - whether these be the "libertines" of the 16th century, the English "rakes" of the 17th century, or the sexual radicals of the 1960s. It has proved quite possible to be explicitly homo(mono)sexual and fundamentally conservative in sexual expectations. I would take as the most significant aspect of the history of bisexuality not those people who were bisexually active, but those who sought to explore the complexities of human sexual choices.

Discussions:

• Liz A. Highleyman: A Brief History of the Bisexual Movement [At Carleton.ca]
  From the early 1970s
• Ramakrishnan: "Bisexuality: identities, behaviors, and politics", Trikone April 1996 [At Utextas]
• Marcy Rein: Bi-Bi Love, Bi-Bi Politics Crossroads 42, June 1994 [At Berkeley]
  Thoughts on Stonewall 25
• Naomi Tucker: Bisexual Politics: Theories, Queries & Visions [At Blackrose.com]
  A book announcement page, but with significant content.

Texts:

• None as yet

Websites:

• Bi.org
  A new dedicated Bisexual site, with a guide to academic resources.
• Bisexual [At Carleton.ca]
  A Splendid collection of resources, including historical accounts, advice, and current issues..
• Marquis De Sade Page [At websight.com]
  Reading De Sade is not pleasant. He is genuinely obscene. Nevertheless, in the annals of the search for freedom he has a place. In nothing else, he shows that there are limits.

Back to Contents

Special Themes 3: Trans* History

"Trans*" is a complex category to analyze and document historically. In some respects, however, it is easier conceptually than "gay": although homosexual activity is documentable in many societies, it is much harder to document social and psychological ideas about "identity" and "orientation". On the other hand, the existence of neither male nor female gendered people ("transgressive" .or not) is very widely documented throughout many societies and cultures. This includes cross-dressers, women who lived as men, eunuchs, "third sex" people, "two-spirited" people, modern transvestites, modern surgical transsexuals, and so forth.

Some modern gays and lesbians seek to distance themselves from this trans* history: some gay men in particular have sought to portray their homosexuality as fully "masculine". In fact, modern homosexuals do transgress one of the basic markers of gender identity in modern society, the marker than says masculinity is marked out by having sex with women.

Discussions:
[see also under "Native American Societies" for "berdache" discussions]

• Jane Anna Langley: Transexual Power, 1994 [At Australian QRD]
• Sandy Stone: The "Empire" Strikes Back: A Post Transsexual Manifesto [AT U. Texas]
• SASIALIT: Discussion on Hijiras [At Rice]
• Vern Bullough, Bonnie Bullough and Richard Smith: A Comparative Study of Male Transvestites, Male to Female Transsexuals, and Male Homosexuals [At Tgguide.com]
• Jeff Jones: The Extraordinary Life of Sweet Evening The Life of 1950s Transgendered Male in Kentucky Profiled [At QRD]
• William J. Mann: Courting ritual [At Boston Phoenix]
  On the "imperial court" drag fundraising phenomenon.
• Ruth McCausland: Drag Queens: Problematic Subversion? Tharunka November 1996 [at Tharunka]
  "Is the figure of the drag queen subverting or reaffirming dominant norms of 'femininity' and 'masculinity'?"

Texts:

• All the Eunuchs of the Bible

Websites:

• Female to Male Trans* History Page
• Intersex Society of North America
  Includes full text of a sometimes historically informed newsletter called Hermaphrodites with Attitude.
• The Gallae HomePage
  An extraordinary web site devoted to ancient and modern gallae [gender variant devotees of the Mother Goddess]. It contains valuable information, but often without citation of sources. It can thus not be relied on as to accuracy, but will give some valuable hints for further research.
• TransGenderGuide's Reference Library
• Transvestite, Transsexual, Transgendered Home Page
  Has articles and a significant coverage of other T* sites.
• Wigstock Page

Back to Contents

Special Themes 4: Anti-Gay: Gay Criticism of Gay Culture

There has been a persistant willingness by gay writers to criticise aspects of gay culture, and of lesbian writers to criticise lesbian culture.

Some of the criticism is probably justified, but elements of sheer intellectual and class-based snobbery towards the lumpen-schwulen play an important part.

In general these writers live in comparatively safe urban gay environments (London, New York, San Francisco. West Hollywood), have come to terms with their homosexuality long ago, and feel free to offer critiques. Their targets usually (repeatedly in fact), include gay activists, gay commercial culture, gay entertainment, Pride events and so forth. Despite protestations to the contrary, they tend to obliterate the very real struggles still going on for most gays and lesbians (violence, discrimination, religious intolerance), and ignore the benefits of a commercial culture. Above all they create tendentious constructions of gay culture in order to attack.

• Review of Anti-Gay [At Planetsoma]
  Review, and extensive excerpts of Mark Simpson, ed., Anti-Gay, (London: Freedom Editions, 1996), with excerpts.
• Don Tyler: Review of Anti-Gay [At New Times]
• Radom Notes: "Gay" as a Marketing Niche, 20 October 1996 [At Planetsoma]
• Gabriel Rotello: Creating a New Gay Culture: Balancing Fidelity & Freedom, The Nation, 04/21/97 [At The Nation]
  Rotello opposes sexual liberation in favor of a better "ecology". Summarizes the political parts of his book Sexual Ecology.
• Deb Price: Column on Michael Angelo Signorile: Life Outside (New York: 1997) Effusive approval of Signorile's solipsistic critque.
• Chris Thomas: Who's to blame? [At Outnow]
  Review of Daniel Harris The Rise and Fall of Gay Culture,(New York: Hyperion, 1997). Harris is a defender of the notion of gay sensibility. Thomas sees this book as part of a backlash against the Signorile/Simpson/Rotello group.
• Sex Panic Leaflet, June 1997
  A leaflet handed out in New York city about a public meeting on combating the the sex panic seen in the "anti-gay" writers.

Back to Contents

Bibliographies and Lists

Bibliographies

• Bibliographical Guide to Lesbian and Gay History [Halsall], [Updated May 1997. In HTML and more complete than versions at other websites]
  This is an extensive bibliographical guide for further research into the history of homosexuality. It is up to date, and will print out at over 70 pages.
• Homosexuality in Early Modern Europe by Jeffrey Merrick.
• Quistory Website Bibliography [A Quistory]
  Short, but up to date.
• Kevin Moss: Russian Gay Studies Bibliography [At Middlebury]
• Jewish GLBT Plays [At Jewish LGBT Archives]
• Hispanic LGB Bibliography [At Columbia U.]
• Gay and Lesbian Chicano Bibliography at [U Texas]
• Lesbian Latin American Writers [At Arenal]
• Nonfiction for GBLT Asian/Pacific people [At Tufts]
• Archaeology of Gender Bibliography [At UMT]
• Intersexuality: An Annotated Bibliography [At Holonet.net]
• Gender and Ancient Spirituality Bibliography [At Gallae Homepage at www.astarznet.org]
• David C. Barnett: Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual Issues Annotated Bibliography, [At UIC]
  Focuses on psychology.
• Feminist Research Methods [At U Oregon]
• LGB Language Use Bibliography [At Northwestern U.]
• AIDS In Historical Perspective [At CBC Radio] - extensive bibliographical guide to AIDS and other diseases in history.
• Gay and Lesbian Studies Bibliography - Newsletters and Periodicals [At CCSU]
  Extensive list of items held at Central Connecticut State University Library.
• Films on Nazi Persecution [At QRD]

Lists

• Yahoo's LGB Authors List
• Queers in History. [Halsall] [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]
• PARTIAL LIST OF FAMOUS QUEERS [At EFN.org]
• Russian Outlist by Kevin Moss [At Middlebury]
  dead and alive people
• East European Outlist by Kevin Moss [At Middlebury]
• The Outlist V.2.1 by Mark Hertzog [At QRD]
  700 living openly gay, lesbian, gay or trans* people.
• The Blacklist V.20 by Chuck Tarver [At QRD] and
  The Blacklist HTML Version with links to more info. [At U. Delaware]
  Black gays and lesbians. dead and alive people. Well referenced.
• Queer Oscar Winners [At QRD]
• Calendar of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Saints, [Halsall] [At Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook]

Timelines

• Timetable of Lesbian and Gay History [Lisa Power] [At Rowse History Centre]
• CHRONOLOGY OF THE LESBIAN AND GAY MOVEMENT IN THE U.S. [AT GLAAD]
• Lesbian and Gay Liberation Over The Years [London/UK] [At Pride.org.uk]
• Chronology of Gay Liberation Since 1897 [At Adk.de]
• Chronologie der Lesben und Schwulen in Köln seit 1969 [At Macman.org]
• Lesbian Herstory Project/Los Angeles Chronology 1970/90 [AT USC]
• Austin Gay & Lesbian Timeline 1968 to 1983 [At U Texas]

Back to Contents

LGBT History Related Web Sites

If a text or source exits at another site, I have merely linked to that site. The fact it is an off-site link is marked every time by square brackets and some indication of where the site is.

There are now a fair number of LGBT history sites, although none have the reach of People with a History. Here are the ones I know about:-

General LGBT History Pages:

• Lesbian and Gay History Page (CMU) by Scott Safier - links marked [At CMU]
• Rowse History Center
  General guide, but with emphasis on British gay and lesbian history.
• The Other Queer Page: History/Herstory
• Queer History Sites
• Yoohoo! Lesbians! Lesbigay History [At Sappho.com]
  Mostly reviews of links. Contains special section on Lesbian history
• Reclaiming History [At UIC]
• Yahoo! on Gay History
• Voice of the Shuttle: Gender Studies/Queer Page
  Collected links page.
• Queer Gay Lesbian Bi Bisexual Transgender Online Resources, [At bc1.com]
  Includes history links.
• Homosexuality in Film
• Lesbian and Gay History Homepage at Hunter College [Ken Sherrill]
• Russian Gay Culture [Kevin Moss, At Middlebury]
• FONDAZIONE [At Geocities.com]
  The Foundation was established in Turin in July, 1980, with the aims of developing cultural activities aimed to support and spread research, knowledge and information on male and female homosexuality.
• Twice Blessed: The Jewish GLBT Archives Online [At Magic.ca]
  Not much old history, but quite a lot of modern stuff.
• Same Gender Loving, Bi and Transgendered People of the African Diaspora [At QRD]
• History of Homosexuality and Homosexuality in History
  A Columbia University web site on modern historiography of homosexuality [with pictures of the leading historians] connected to the Stonewall 25 celebrations.
• Critical inQueeries [At U. Melbourne] [Periodical]
• Journal of the History of Sexuality: Homepage [Periodical]
• Tharunka [at real.net.au] [Periodical]
  With some useful articles on queer history and culture.

Collections of LGB Material

• QRD: Queer Resources Directory - links marked [At QRD]
• Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Catholic Handbook

LGB Museums and Archives - US

• National Museum and Archive of Lesbian and Gay History [US]
• New York Public Library Gay and Lesbian Studies
• Martin Duberman Papers [At NYPL]
• ONE Institute International Gay and Lesbian Archives
  One of the biggest -- and oldest -- gay and lesbian resources in the world.
• GLBT Library/Archives of Philadelphia
• Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, located in Chicago, Illinois.
• The Human Sexuality Collection - Cornell University
• Kentucky Gay and Lesbian Archives and Library
• AIDS History Project Collections [At University of Cal/SF]
• St. Louis Lesbian and Gay Archives
• Stonewall Library and Archives
  A non-profit group, founded in 1973 and located in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

LGB Museums and Archives - Canada

• Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives
• Canadian Gay Lesbian and Bisexual Resource Directory
• Archives Gaies Du Québec
• Jewish GBLT Archives (Canada)

LGB Museums and Archives - Europe

• Hall-Carpenter Archives [UK]
  A gay and lesbian archival collection in the United Kingdom, now housed at the London School of Economics.
• Homodok [The Netherlands]
  English-language site of the Gay / Lesbian Archives and Information Center, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Lesbian Specific Sites

• Lesbian Tribal Voice [Lesbian History Synopsis]
• Lesbian Herstory Archives
  An experimental site on the Lesbian Herstory Archives in New York.
• Lesbian Poetry Page [At Sappho.Com]
  With selections from Lesbian poetry throughout history.
• James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center and Collections
• The June L. Mazer Lesbian Collection
• Lesbian History Project
  At USC
• Lesbian Archive and Information Centre
  In Glasgow, Scotland.
• Lesbian.org
  A general Lesbian information site, with links to various Lesbian organizations.

Back to Contents

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

Please do not write to me before you have looked through here. If the answer to any question is on this site, I shall not respond.

Gay and Lesbian General Interest Questions

• Words for Lesbians and Gays in Many Languages [At QRD]
• The Origins of "Faggot"
• Faggots Recipe In the UK faggots are a kind of meatball. Here's a Welsh faggot recipe.
• Origin of Lambda Sign [At QRD]
• Origin of the Rainbow Flag [At CMU]
• History of Some Common LGBT Pride Symbols [At Geocities.com]
• Over the Rainbow Lyrics [At Carleton]
• Somewhere Lyrics, [At Carleton]
• Average Penis Size [At uni-klu.ac.at]

Gay and Lesbian Hostile Questions

• Gerbils [At QRD]
  Gay men do not put gerbils in condoms into their rectums. People of all sexual orientations do, in fact, put an amazing variety of objects inside themselves, but the Gerbil myth has been especially common. There is no basis in fact for the story.
• Pedophilia
  There is no topic more controversial than the issue of inter-generational sex. There are many web pages on the net which promote "boy love". I will not link to them. GLAAD and the ILGA [International Lesbian and Gay Association], about as mainstream LGBT organizations as one can find, take a specific stance Against Pedophilia and NAMBLA [Jan 16, 1994, At GLAAD]. Other non-pedophile gays have argued that the issues at least deserved to be raised - for instance the Ad Hoc Spirit of Stonewall [at Actwin.com] group at Stonewall 25. Judged by the boos the pedophile groups meet at LGBT Pride Parades, they have little support in the LGBT community.
  There is nothing specifically homosexual about pedophilia - some pedophiles are attracted to children of the same sex, others to children of the opposite sex, and some to children in general. There is little doubt, furthermore, that the vast majority of cases of childsex involves men, usually fathers or stepfathers, with girls.
  One final point: although historic formulations of homosexual eros often are called "pederasty", as in Greece and Rome, these formulations were NOT about adult-child sex. The proposed younger partners were what we would now call "older teenagers", i.e. young sexually mature adults, not "boys". The advent of industrial society has created a situation in which people reach sexual maturity before they reach social maturity, but this was not the case in the periods when age-dissonant homosexuality was the norm.

Back to Contents

© 1997, Paul Halsall, [a picture!]
Note: I read all mail, and keep much of it, but I will not be able to reply to all notes.