Societal attitudes toward homosexuality vary greatly in different cultures and different historical periods, as do attitudes toward sexual desire, activity and relationships in general. All cultures have their own
values regarding appropriate and inappropriate sexuality; some sanction same-sex love and sexuality, while others disapprove of such activities. As with heterosexual behaviour, different sets of prescriptions and proscriptions may be given to individuals according to their
gender, age,
social status or
class. For example, among the
samurai class of pre-modern Japan, it was recommended for a teenage novice to enter into an erotic relationship with an older warrior (see
Shudo), but sexual relations between the two became inappropriate once the boy came of age.
Ancient India Ancient Greece ) kissing (
Attic red-figured cup, BC) In
Ancient Greece homoerotic practices were widely present, and integrated into the religion, education, philosophy and military culture. The sexualized form of these relationships was the topic of vigorous debate. In particular, anal intercourse was condemned by many, including
Plato, as a form of
hubris and faulted for dishonoring and feminizing the boys. Relations between adult males were generally ridiculed. Plato also believed that the chaste form of the relationship was the mark of an enlightened society, while only
barbarians condemned it. The extent to which the Greeks engaged in and tolerated homosexual relations is open to some debate. In Sparta and Thebes, there appeared to be a particularly strong emphasis on these relationships, and it was considered an important part of a youth's education.
Ancient Rome "Homosexual" and "heterosexual" were not categories of
Roman sexuality, and
Latin lacks words that would translate these concepts exactly. The primary dichotomy of Roman sexuality was active/dominant/masculine and passive/submissive/"feminized". The masculinity of an
adult male citizen was defined sexually by his taking the penetrative role, whether his partner was female or a male
of lower status. A Roman citizen's political liberty
(libertas) was defined in part by the right to preserve his body from physical compulsion or use by others; for the male citizen to use his body to give pleasure was considered servile and subversive of the social hierarchy. It was acceptable for a man to be attracted to a beautiful young male, but the bodies of citizen youths were strictly off-limits. Acceptable male partners were
slaves, male
prostitutes, or others who lacked social standing (the
infames). Same-sex relations among male citizens of equal status, including
soldiers, were disparaged, and in some circumstances penalized harshly. In political rhetoric, a man might be attacked for
effeminacy or playing the passive role in sex acts, but not for performing penetrative sex on a socially acceptable male partner. Threats of
anal or
oral rape against another man were forms of masculine braggadocio. Homosexual behaviors were regulated in so far as they threatened or impinged on an ideal of liberty for the dominant male, who retained his masculinity by not being penetrated. The
Lex Scantinia imposed penalties on those who committed a sex crime
(stuprum) against a
freeborn male minor; it may also have been used to prosecute adult male citizens who willingly took the "passive" role. Children who were born into slavery or became enslaved had no legal protections against sexual abuse; a good-looking and graceful slave-boy might be chosen and groomed as his owner's sexual favorite.
Pederasty in ancient Rome thus differed from
pederastic practice in ancient Greece, where by custom the couple were both freeborn males of equal social status. 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 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. He had his pederastic lover
Sporus castrated, and during their marriage, Sporus appeared in public as Nero's wife wearing the regalia that was customary for Roman empresses.
Same-sex relations among women are infrequently documented during the Republic and
Principate, but better attested during the Empire. An early reference to homosexual women as "lesbians" is found in the Roman-era Greek writer
Lucian (2nd century AD): "They say there are women like that in
Lesbos, masculine-looking, but they don't want to give it up for men. Instead, they consort with women, just like men." Since male writers thought a sex act required an active or dominant partner who was "
phallic", they imagined that in lesbian sex one of the women would use a
dildo or have an exceptionally large
clitoris for penetration, and that she would be the one experiencing pleasure. The poet
Martial describes lesbians as having outsized sexual appetites and performing penetrative sex on both women and boys. Satiric portrayals of women who sodomize boys, drink and eat like men, and engage in vigorous physical regimens, may reflect cultural anxieties about the growing independence of
Roman women.
Ancient China Some early Chinese emperors are speculated to have had homosexual relationships, accompanied by heterosexual ones. Same-sex practices have been documented there since the "Spring and Autumn Annals" period (parallel with Classical Greece) and its roots are found in the legend of China's origin, the reign of the Yellow Emperor, who, among his many inventions, is credited with being the first to take male bedmates. Opposition to homosexuality in China originates in the medieval
Tang dynasty, attributed to the rising influence of Christian and Islamic values, but did not become fully established until the late
Qing dynasty and the
Republic of China. The Chinese
Psychiatrists' Association removed
homosexuality from the list of
mental illnesses in April 2001. However, as openly
gay scriptwriter and teacher
Cui Zi'en points out, "In the West, it's frowned on to criticize homosexuals and even more to make them feel different", says Cui Zi'en, contrasting it with Chinese society which, "is changing, but there'll always be people who'll feel disgust".
Ancient Israel In the book of Leviticus, intercourse between males was condemned as an 'abomination' (Leviticus 18:22, 22:13), and required the death penalty for those men who "lie with a man as with a woman".
Early Christianity Many contend that from its earliest days,
Christianity followed the
Hebrew tradition of condemnation of male sexual intercourse and certain forms of sexual relations between men and women, labeling both as
sodomy. Some contemporary Christian scholars dispute this however. The teachings of
Jesus Christ encouraged a turning away from and forgiveness of sin, including those sins of sexual impurity, although Jesus never referred to homosexuality specifically. Jesus was known as a defender of those whose sexual sins were condemned by the
Pharisees. At the same time, Jesus strongly upheld the
Ten Commandments and urged those whose sexual sins were forgiven to, "go, and sin no more".
Saint Paul was even more explicit in his condemnation of sinful behavior, including sodomy, saying, "Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God." However, the exact meanings of
two of the ancient Greek words that Paul used that supposedly refer to homosexuality are disputed among scholars. In the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, however, the relevant words employed in 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy are the same words employed in Leviticus 18 to denote gay men.
Christian Roman Empire / Byzantine Empire After the emperor
Constantine ended the persecution of Christians throughout the
Roman Empire and
Theodosius made
Christianity the official state religion in the 4th century, Christian attitudes toward sexual behavior were soon incorporated into Roman Law. In the year 528, the emperor
Justinian I, responding to an outbreak of
pederasty among the Christian clergy, issued a law which made
castration the punishment for sodomy.
Medieval Europe In medieval Europe, homosexuality was considered
sodomy and was punishable by death. Persecutions reached their height during the
Medieval Inquisitions, when the sects of
Cathars and
Waldensians were accused of fornication and sodomy, alongside accusations of Satanism. In 1307, accusations of sodomy and homosexuality were major charges leveled during the
Trial of the Knights Templar. The theologian
Thomas Aquinas was influential in linking condemnations of homosexuality with the idea of
natural law, arguing that "special sins are against nature, as, for instance, those that run counter to the intercourse of male and female natural to animals, and so are peculiarly qualified as unnatural vices".
New Guinea The
Bedamini people of
New Guinea believe that semen is the main source of masculinity and strength. In consequence, the sharing of semen between men, particularly when there is an age gap, is seen as promoting growth throughout nature, while excessive heterosexual activities are seen as leading to decay and death.
Russia A survey run by the
Levada Centre in
Russia in July 2010 concluded that "homophobia is widespread in Russian society". It draws this conclusion from the following findings. 74% of respondents believed that gays and lesbians are immoral or psychologically disturbed people. Only 15% responded that homosexuality is as legitimate as traditionally conceived sexual orientation. 39% consider that they should be compulsorily treated or alternatively isolated from society. 4% considered that it is necessary to liquidate people of a non-traditional sexual orientation. On the other hand, many Russians (45%) were in favour of the equality of homosexuals with other citizens (41% against, 15% undecided). Most supported the introduction in Russia of laws forbidding discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and incitement of hatred for gays and lesbians (31% against, 28% undecided). The Levada Centre reached the following conclusions on the distribution of these view in different groups of society. "In Russian society, homophobia is most often encountered among men, older respondents (over 55), and people with an average level of education and low income... Women, young Russians (18–39), and well educated and comfortably off respondents showed more tolerance for people of a non-traditional sexual orientation, and more understanding of related issues. Respondents over 40, people of average or lower education or low incomes, and rural people—the sectors retaining the inertia of Soviet thinking—are more likely to believe that homosexuality is a disease requiring treatment, and that homosexuals must be isolated from society".
Arab world Men who have sex with other men in Arab societies do not commonly refer to each other as homosexuals. Laurens Buijs,
Gert Hekma, and Jan Willem Duyvendak, authors of the 2011 article "'As long as they keep away from me': The paradox of antigay violence in a gay-friendly country", said "This might explain why they are more likely to condemn men who explicitly claim a homosexual identity. In the 2011 article they said that among men in Arab countries who do not identify as homosexual, anal sexual intercourse is "often said to be common" and that the men's "masculine gender role is not at stake as long as they take up the active role".
Netherlands Laurens Buijs,
Gert Hekma, and Jan Willem Duyvendak, authors of the 2011 article "'As long as they keep away from me': The paradox of antigay violence in a gay-friendly country", said that the Netherlands has a "tolerant and gay-friendly image", and that Dutch people, according to cross-national survey research, exhibit more acceptance of homosexuality than "most other European peoples". They also stated that Dutch people exhibit support for equal rights for and non-discrimination of homosexuals. They explained "
Amsterdam, in particular is often associated with gay emancipation, as it provided the setting for the world's first legally recognized 'gay marriage' in 2001, and hosts the famous gay parade with festively decorated boats floating through the city's picturesque canals each year." According to the article, despite this reputation, the aspects of attempts of men to seduce other men, anal sex, behavior perceived as "feminine" from males, and public displays of affection among homosexuals are likely to trigger homophobia in the Netherlands. They argued that "antigay violence is a remarkably grave problem" in that country. They explained that members of five ethnic groups,
Dutch-Antilleans,
Dutch-Greeks,
Dutch-Moroccans,
Dutch-Serbs,
Dutch-Turks, "are less accepting towards homosexuality, also when controlled for gender, age, level of education and religiosity". They also stated that the culture in the
Armed Forces of the Netherlands "is notoriously masculine and intolerant towards homosexuality". Until the year 2000, right wing politicians in the Netherlands generally opposed homosexuality, but as of 2011 show support of homosexuality and oppose anti-gay attitudes in immigrant groups, stating that the country has a "Dutch tradition of tolerance" for homosexuality.
United States McCarthy era In the 1950s in the
United States, open homosexuality was taboo. Legislatures in every state had passed laws against homosexual behavior well before this, most notably
anti-sodomy laws. Many politicians treated the homosexual as a symbol of
antinationalism, construing masculinity as
patriotism and marking the "unmasculine" homosexual as a threat to
national security. This perceived connection between homosexuality and antinationalism was present in
Nazi Germany and
Soviet Russia as well, and appears in contemporary politics to this day. Senator
Joseph McCarthy used accusations of homosexuality as a
smear tactic in his
anti-Communist crusade, often combining the
Second Red Scare with the
Lavender Scare. On one occasion, he went so far as to announce to reporters, "If you want to be against McCarthy, boys, you've got to be either a Communist or a cocksucker." Senator
Kenneth Wherry likewise attempted to invoke some connection between homosexuality and antinationalism as, for example, when he said in a 1959 interview with
Max Lerner that "You can't hardly separate homosexuals from subversives." Later in that same interview he draws the line between patriotic Americans and gay men: "But look Lerner, we're both Americans, aren't we? I say, let's get these fellows [closeted gay men in government positions] out of the government." '' (1961) There were other perceived connections between homosexuality and Communism. Wherry publicized fears that
Joseph Stalin had obtained a list of closeted homosexuals in positions of power from
Adolf Hitler, which he believed Stalin intended to use to blackmail these men into working against the U.S. for the Soviet regime. The 1950 Senate subcommittee
Hoey Report "Employment of Homosexuals and Other Sex Perverts in Government" said that "the pervert is easy prey to the blackmailer.... It is an accepted fact among intelligence agencies that espionage organizations the world over consider sex perverts who are in possession of or have access to confidential material to be prime targets where pressure can be exerted." Along with that security-based concern, the report found homosexuals unsuitable for government employment because "those who engage in overt acts of perversion lack the emotional stability of normal persons. In addition there is an abundance of evidence to sustain the conclusion that indulgence in acts of sex perversion weakens the moral fiber of an individual to a degree that he is not suitable for a position of responsibility." McCarthy and
Roy Cohn used the secrets of closeted gay American politicians as tools for blackmail more often than did foreign powers.
LGBTQ civil rights movement Beginning in the 20th century,
LGBTQ rights movements have led to changes in social acceptance and in the media portrayal of
same-gender relationships. The legalization of
same-sex marriage, a major goal of gay rights supporters, was achieved across all fifty states during the
period from 2004 to 2015. (See also
LGBTQ rights organization.) Attitudes toward homosexuality have changed in developed societies in the latter part of the 20th century, accompanied by a greater acceptance of gay people into both secular and religious institutions. Some opponents of the movement say the term
LGBTQ civil rights is a
misnomer and an attempt to piggyback on the civil rights movement. Rev.
Jesse Lee Peterson, for example, called the comparison of the civil rights movement to the "gay rights movement" a "disgrace to a black American". He said that "homosexuality is not a civil right. What we have is a bunch of radical homosexuals trying to attach their agenda to the struggles of the 1960s," while Jesse Jackson has said "Gays were never called three-fifths human in the Constitution." Gene Rivers, a Boston minister, has accused gays of "pimping" the civil rights movement. In contrast, the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a leading organization during the civil rights movement, has made clear their support for LGBTQ rights and equate it with other human rights and civil rights movements.
Statistics 73% of the general public in the United States in 2001 stated that they knew someone who is
gay,
lesbian, or
bisexual. This is the result of a steady increase from 1983 when there were 24%, 43% in 1993, 55% in 1998, or 62% in 2000. The percentage of the general public who say there is more acceptance of
LGB people in 2001 than before was 64%. Acceptance was measured on many different levels—87% of the general public would shop at a store owned by someone who is gay or lesbian but only 46% of the general public would attend a
church or
synagogue where a
minister or
rabbi is openly gay or lesbian. A 2011 survey by the
Pew Research Center showed that 60% of U.S. adults think homosexuality should be accepted. Males and people over 65 years old are more likely to think it is wrong. Among people who do not know someone who is LGB, 61% think the behavior is wrong. Broken down by religion, 60% of
evangelical Christians think that it is wrong, whereas 11% with no
religious affiliation are against it. 57% of the general public think that
gays and lesbians experience a lot of
prejudice and
discrimination, making it the group most believed to experience prejudice and discrimination. African Americans come in second at 42%. In terms of support of public policies, according to the same 2001 study, 76% of the general public thought that there should be laws to protect gay and lesbian people from job discrimination, 74% from housing discrimination, 73% for inheritance rights, 70% support health and other employee benefits for domestic partners, 68% supported social security benefits, and 56% supported GL people openly serving in the military. 73% favored
sexual orientation being included in the hate crimes statutes. 39% supported
same-sex marriage, while 47% supported
civil unions, and 46% supported
adoption rights. A poll conducted in 2013 showed a record high of 58% of the American people supporting legal recognition for same-sex marriage. A separate study shows that, in the United States, the younger generation is more supportive of
gay rights than average, and that there is growing support for LBGT rights. In 2011, for the first time, a majority of Americans supported the legalization of
same-sex marriage. In 2012, President
Barack Obama voiced support for gay marriage, and in the November elections,
three states voted to legalize gay marriage at the ballot box for the first time in history while an
attempt to restrict same-sex marriage was rejected. In 2016, 55% of U.S. citizens supported same sex marriage and 37% opposed. ==See also==