The social perception of homosexuality in history, from ancient Greece to the 17th century

Text taken from "Combatre l'homophobie, pour una école ouverto à la diversité" (fight homophobia, for a school open to diversity) published by the government of the French community (Belgium), pp. 29-30, freely translated by Francesca Macilletti

The love and sexuality between men and between women probably exists everywhere and always. The only things that have changed throughout history are the conditions in which these relationships forgive themselves and the forms they take. Several sources confirm that, in the course of European history, there were men and women who had sex exclusively with people of their own sex; But this does not mean that all cultures had a specific concept available that identified "homosexuality" (which should have opposed "heterosexuality"), nor that they considered "homosexuals" as part of a distinct category.
In some cases, it was decisive to know who had an "active" role and who a "passive" one within sexual relationships, even if, very often, these roles were interchangeable. In many countries, relationships between people of the same sex were considered a sin or a punished crime - sometimes - with death. Today, the decriminalization of homosexual acts, implemented in France and Belgium since the end of the twentieth century, the emancipation of the woman, the expansion of gay and lesbian movements and the liberation of sexuality in general have allowed some homosexuals to develop a 'increasingly positive gay or lesbian identity [3].

The historical periods presented below do not aim to be exhaustive but are intended to inform about the fact that the repression of homosexual orientation people has not always been generalized in the West (F. Tamagne, 2001; D. Eribon, 2003; LG Tin, 2003). Periods of repression have succeeded periods of acceptance of homosexuality. On the other hand, the denial of the existence of homosexuality has always been one of the most effective processes to "forget" the rights of homosexual people. This is especially true for lesbians. If the history of women has often been minimized, that of the lesbians has been ignored or deliberately hidden (MJ Bonnet, 2001).

Ancient and medieval Europe

Ancient Greece (and, in a less massive way, imperial Rome) has referred many times to homosexuals and lesbians which, as well as Renée Vivien (Sapho, Transduction Nouvelle, "Sappho, new translation" 1903), André Gide (Corydon, 1924) or Marguerite Yourcenar (Memoirs of Hadrian, 1951) wanted to see in this a model of tolerance of love between people of the same sex. However, these references remain extremely codified. Thus, in Greece, "homosexuality" was defined, in a restrictive way, in the initiatory and pedagogical context that unites the Erates (adult man) to the heromenos (his beloved, aged between 12 and 18 years ).
Male love is celebrated in art (vases and statues) and literature (The symposium of Plato) as one of the highest forms of love and more valued than heterosexual relationships, while female homosexuality is rarely mentioned. Not all behaviors are tolerated: the "effeminate" are the subject of sarcasm as they testify, once reached adulthood, a passive conduct considered dishonorable (KJ necessary, 1982; B. Sergent, 1996; D. Halperin, 2000; J. Winkler, 2005). In the same way, in Rome - another patriarchal society marked by the enhancement of virility, by the submission of the woman and slavery - the passive partner, if adult and free man, is the subject of a deep contempt (F. DuPont and T. Eloi, 2001 ).

The Christian tradition, under the influence of Saint Paul Primo and Sant'Agostino and San Tommaso d'Aquino after, looks with reproach the "sodomita" [4], considered guilty of a "crime against nature" as it puts into question The divine order of the difference of the sexes. However, "the sodomita" and "homosexual" do not confuse themselves completely, because the accusation of sodomy could cover both homosexual and heterosexual practices and brutality.
On the contrary, female homosexuality remained in the shadows, except when the woman claimed male privileges, for example by disguising or using dildo, or when she tried to marry another woman. The persecutions related to the repression of homosexuality are documented by the fourth century of the Christian era.
The laws applied under the kingdoms of Theodosius and Justinian are the first to predict the stake for homosexual acts. Subsequently, starting from the V until the thirteenth century, the repression was present but irregular in the West. During the black Middle Ages we can speak of a certain recognition of homosexuality through some rites certified by the Church.
Starting from the fourth until the XII century, especially in the East, there were numerous examples of ceremonies that solemnize a stable emotional relationship between two people of the same sex recognized by the community and made official by the religious authorities (J. Boswell, 1996).

In the 11th and XII centuries, courteous love also existed between men, as evidenced by the Christian literature of the time (for example Sant'Anselmo, San Bernardo di Clairvaux or the Bishop Marbod of Rennes of the Chartres school, whose exhilarating poems l 'Love between men are widespread in Europe), and several popes and men of power renounced to pursue homosexual practices.
During the Renaissance, under the influence of humanist thought, this current called Neo-Platonic, referring to antiquity, has known a renewal, both in literature (dialogue on the love of Plutarch, "homosexual" sensitivity in Montaigne, Marlowe or Shakespeare ) both in art (themes of San Sebastiano or Ganimede, homoerotic inspiration by Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio ...). We then observe an growing disparity between the official speech - very guilty - and the complexity of practices and ways of thought.

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[3] There are, today, several possible identifications according to sexuality, which do not always correspond to a term or generic "label" such as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transsexual. Since the 90s, the term queer (initially insulting term, which means "strange", "bizarre" but also "fennel") is used by those who want to resist sex and gender rules and are not recognized in identities " Gay "or" lesbian ", considered as carriers of new exclusions (related to age, physique," race "...).

[4] With reference to the episode of Sodom and Gomorrah present in the Genesis (XIX 1-23).

Original text (PDF): I fight the homophobie, pour una école ouverte à la diversity