Contents:
WAS ANCIENT ROME GAY?
Homosexuals, queer, and transgenr people have been wily persecuted throughout much of history, particularly after the foundg of the Abrahamic religns. Most of the perds are om eras non-Wtern cultur and took place before lonizatn and Christianizatn, both of which are forc that almost exclively led to anti-homosexual beliefs the lonized and Christianized populatns. They did have a plex view of men who were perated same-sex relatnships, although this likely stemmed om misogyny more than homophobia.
Unfortunately, the troductn of Eastern Orthodox Christiany put a swift and vlent end to those practic through torture, executn, and the stctn of art and lerature pictg homosexual relatnships. After Jackie Kennedy, Brigte Bardot, Jean Pl Gltier, and other gay ins began to equent the island beme a party central for gay tourists. The heyday of the party scene was the 1990s, and while the island has lost some of s steam favor of other gay-iendly statns like Spa, is still famo and often listed as a gay-iendly tourist statn.
Given the fiery anti-gay rhetoric of many Islamic lears today, and the often btal punishments meted out to homosexuals, may be surprisg to learn that the Mlim Safavid Empire was que welg of homosexualy.
WERE THE SPARTANS GAY? HOMOSEXUALY SPARTA, ANCIENT GREECE
Sufi Islam was the domant theologil stra of the Safavid Empire, and many adherents believed the Qur’an had numero passag that promoted tolerance to homosexualy. The prophet Muhammad was said to have had many gay iends, cludg two close iends whom he entsted wh the re of his tomb after his ath. Erotic lerature featurg homosexualy was also standard the era, wh The Encylopedia of Pleasure even highlightg a lbian relatnship between a Christian prcs and a Mlim noblewoman.
Sadly, the tolerance of the Safavid Empire end after the Brish lonizatn of the Arab pensula, as the Christian Brish were outraged by the open displays of homosexualy and quickly stuted harsh anti-sodomy laws throughout the regn, some of which persist today. Republin Senator Joseph McCarthy was by leadg his “McCarthyism” wch hunts for munists, homosexuals, and other perceived malntents and enemi of the natn. Ironilly, the reason homosexuals were viewed as a threat to the US was due to the natn’s own laws prohibg homosexualy which the US ernment believed ma homosexuals more liable to blackmail by hostile foreign untri.
Playboy wrote an expose on the island’s gay culture the 1960s, which ed to bee even more of a gay Mec wh LGBTQIA+ tourists om around the world flockg to the island. While cultural standards did vary between the loosely anized llectn of cy-stat that prised ancient Greece, by large, homosexualy between adults was owned upon. One notable exceptn was the Thebans, whose ary is believed to have been posed of bond pairs of homosexual men to enurage genuely antic fightg.