Ancient India In ancient India,
Ayoni or non-vaginal sex of all types was punishable in the
Arthashastra. Homosexual acts were, however, treated as a smaller offence punishable by a fine, while unlawful heterosexual sex carried much harsher punishment. The
Dharmsastras, especially the later ones like the
Vashistha Dharmasutra, prescribed against non-vaginal sex. The
Yājñavalkya Smṛti prescribed fines for such acts including those with other men.
Manusmriti prescribed light punishments for such acts. Vanita stated that the verses about punishment for a sex between a woman and her maiden was due to its strong emphasis on a maiden's sexual purity.
Ancient Israel The ancient
Law of Moses (the
Torah) forbids people from lying with people of the same sex (i.e., from having
intercourse) in
Leviticus 18 and gives a story of attempted homosexual rape in
Genesis 19, in the story of
Sodom and Gomorrah, after which the cities were soon destroyed with "brimstone and fire, from the Lord" and the death penalty was prescribed to its inhabitants – and to
Lot's wife, who was turned into a pillar of salt because she turned back to watch the cities' destruction. In
Deuteronomy 22:5,
cross-dressing is condemned as "abominable".
Assyria In
Assyrian society,
sex crimes were punished identically whether they were homosexual or heterosexual. An individual faced no punishment for penetrating someone of equal
social class, a cult prostitute, or with someone whose
gender roles were not considered solidly masculine. However, homosexual relationships with fellow soldiers, slaves, royal attendants, or those where a social better was
submissive or penetrated, were treated as bad
omens. Middle Assyrian
Law Codes dating 1075 BC has a particularly harsh law for
homosexuality in the military, which reads: "If a man have intercourse with his brother-in-arms, they shall turn him into a
eunuch." A similar law code reads, "If a seignior lay with his neighbor, when they have prosecuted him (and) convicted him, they shall lie with him (and) turn him into a eunuch". This law code condemns a situation that involves homosexual
rape. Any Assyrian male could visit a
prostitute or lie with another male, just as long as false rumors or forced sex were not involved with another male.
Ancient Rome In ancient Rome, the bodies of citizen youths were strictly off-limits, and the
Lex Scantinia imposed penalties on those who committed a sex crime
(stuprum) against a
freeborn male minor. Acceptable same-sex partners were males excluded from legal protections as citizens:
slaves, male
prostitutes, and the
infames, entertainers or others who might be technically free but whose lifestyles set them outside the law. A male citizen who willingly performed
oral sex or received
anal sex was disparaged, but there is only limited evidence of legal penalties against these men. In courtroom and political rhetoric, charges of
effeminacy and passive sexual behaviors were directed particularly at "democratic" politicians
(populares) such as
Julius Caesar and
Mark Antony.
Roman law addressed the
rape of a male citizen as early as the 2nd century BC when it was ruled that even a man who was "disreputable and questionable" had the same right as other citizens not to have his body subjected to forced sex. A law probably dating to the
dictatorship of Julius Caesar defined rape as forced sex against "boy, woman, or anyone"; the rapist was subject to execution, a rare penalty in Roman law. A male classified as
infamis, such as a prostitute or actor, could not as a matter of law be raped, nor could a slave, who was legally classified as property; the slave's owner, however, could prosecute the rapist for property damage. In the
Roman army of the Republic,
sex among fellow soldiers violated the decorum against intercourse with citizens and was subject to harsh penalties, including death, as a violation of
military discipline. The Greek historian
Polybius (2nd century BC) lists
deserters, thieves,
perjurers, and "...on young men who have abused their persons" as subject to the
fustuarium, clubbing to death. Ancient sources are most concerned with the effects of
sexual harassment by officers, but the young soldier who brought an accusation against his superior needed to show that he had not willingly taken the passive role or prostituted himself. Soldiers were free to have
relations with their male slaves; the use of a fellow citizen-soldier's body was prohibited, not homosexual behaviors per se. By the late Republic and throughout the
Imperial period, there is increasing evidence that men whose lifestyle marked them as "homosexual" in the modern sense served openly. Although Roman law did not recognize marriage between men, and in general Romans regarded marriage as a heterosexual union with the primary purpose of producing children, in the early Imperial period some male couples were celebrating
traditional marriage rites.
Juvenal remarks with disapproval that his friends often attended such ceremonies. The emperor
Nero had two marriages to men, once as the bride (with a
freedman Pythagoras) and once as the groom. His consort
Sporus appeared in public as Nero's wife wearing the regalia that was customary for the Roman empress. Apart from measures to protect the prerogatives of citizens, the prosecution of homosexuality as a general crime began in the 3rd century of the Christian era when
male prostitution was banned by
Philip the Arab. By the end of the 4th century, after the
Roman Empire had come under
Christian rule, passive homosexuality was
punishable by burning. "Death by sword" was the punishment for a "man coupling like a woman" under the
Theodosian Code. Under
Justinian, all same-sex acts, passive or active, no matter who the partners are, were declared contrary to nature and punishable by death.
British Empire The
United Kingdom introduced anti-homosexuality laws throughout its colonies, particularly in the 19th century when the
British Empire was at its peak. As of 2018, more than half of the 71 countries that criminalised homosexuality were former British colonies or protectorates. In 1861, the British Empire introduced
Section 377 of the British Colonial Penal Code, outlawing
consensual sexual activity between
same-sex couples as well as labelling
third gender communities such as the
apwint people and
Hijra as "outlaw tribes". This law was intended to
criminalise acts "against the order of nature". Section 377 was used to prosecute people engaging in
oral and
anal sex along with homosexual activity. Today, Section 377 still exists in some
former British colonies: • Bangladesh • Malaysia The Hijra were included in the
Criminal Tribes Act (1871) and were monitored with the hope of
eliminating their culture. Due to the passage of the Criminal Tribes Act (1871), Hijra people could not possess children. While significant progress has been made to reverse these laws, the majority of the countries of the
Commonwealth of Nations, formerly known as the British Commonwealth, still criminalise
sexual acts between consenting adults of the
same sex and other forms of
sexual orientation,
gender identity and expression. Homosexual activity remains a criminal offence in 29 of the 56 sovereign states of the Commonwealth; and legal in only 27. In 3 of these states, homosexual activity is
punishable by death.
LGBTQ communities still face significant
discrimination due to the influence of
colonialism in former British colonies, despite these communities being accepted prior to
British colonialism. In the
Indic cultural sphere, references to a third sex can be found throughout the texts of India's religious traditions like
Jainism and
Buddhism as well as the
Kama Sutra. The foundational work of Hindu law, the
Manu Smriti (c. 200 BC–200 AD) explains humans as belonging to one of three
biological sexes, indicating a belief that
transsexuality was an inherent trait.
Netherlands In 2001, the Netherlands was the first country in the world to
legalize same-sex marriage. ==Global LGBT rights maps==