The Historical Journeys of Homosexuality

Lindsey Shelton

English 112 - Bartlow

Paper # 3 - Final Copy

The Historical Journeys of Homosexuality

Throughout history, Gay and Lesbian rights have been publicly

persecuted

and raised-up into the public eye without their want or consent. The public

seem to have very different views on this subject, as has been displayed

through legislation and common opinion. These legislations, such as the

Napoleonic Code of 1804 and the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, both of

which deal with opposite ends of the spectrum, have made profound impacts on

the way society sees and deals with homosexuality and the subject of

same-sex marriage.

Gordon Rattray Taylor, author of the book Sex in History, states

"the history of civilization is the history of a long warfare between the

dangerous and powerful forces of the id, and the various systems of taboos

and inhibitions . . . erected to control them"(34) goes so far as to be

almost meaningless. There is a period in history that is referred to as The

Sexual Revolution. This period is the time in the 1960s and 1970s is

noteworthy because the attitudes about sex and sexuality changed

dramatically, leaving them more open. It included the acceptance of more

sexual partners and a growing number of marriages ending in divorce. This

time also marked huge shifts in attitudes towards women's sexuality, freedom

of sexual expression and homosexuality. (Taylor, 392)

It is well-known that most governments are developed on patriarchal

principles, favoring the man. Many women have spoken out against the gender

bias of their government, including the 19th century organized suffrage

movement. This movement is sometimes referred to as the first wave of

feminism. There are thoughts, from modern experiences, that this group of

women fighting for suffrage could have possibly been bisexual or lesbians,

but did not identify as such in these times. It is believed that Susan B.

Anthony lived as a spinster her entire life and Anthony's niece, Lucy, had

an intimate partnership with Methodist activist Anna Howard Shaw.

(Holsinger, 21) These thoughts are merely speculation, but show that in many

movements that seek to improve women's status in society, lesbian's are

often at their leadership.

There were, however, many moments in history when homosexuals were

persecuted for their desires in a partner. The most well-known of these

times was the Holocaust. In an effort to preserve his "Aryan race", Hitler

accused homosexuality as "socially aberrant" and persecuted any man

suspected of homosexual tendencies. Between 1933 and 1945, it is estimated

that more than 100,000 men were arrested on homosexual charges, and a

whopping half of said men were actually convicted. (Taylor, 59) While most

men convicted of a crime were sentenced into normal prisons, homosexuals

were sent to

concentration camps. Most documentation of homosexual's treatment was erased

or covered up in records, as survivors were too ashamed to tell their

stories and early historian's put off the erasure as unworthy of mention the

prostitutes, homosexuals, perverts, and common criminals incarcerated by the

Nazis. During the Weimar republic, which preceded

Nazism, homosexuals

created a largely accepted society and subculture. But when Nazism first

started to form, police raided gay bars and clubs and publications that were

associated with homosexuality were destroyed. It even went as far that

citizens were invited to "denounce" homosexuals, or turn them into nazi

police.

Historically, the Roman Catholic Church has been the institution

most responsible for the suffering of the gay community. Through its

interpretation of biblical passages and its embrace of a "natural law"

theology that heavily influenced the secular laws of most of the Western

world, the Church is deeply implicated in, and has sometimes actively

promoted, the brutal persecution of sexually variant people throughout the

Christian era. Notwithstanding the hatred that the Church has fomented

against sexual minorities, at some points in its history, it has served as a

haven for those whose sexual desires were unorthodox. The sex-negative

attitudes of the Church led to the establishment of a celibate male clergy

and of sexually segregated monasteries and convents, which undoubtedly

provided a refuge for individuals who failed to conform