J, the Centurn, and His Lover - The Gay & Lbian Review

Contents:

• THE 200-YEAR-OLD DIARY THAT'S REWRG GAY HISTORY
• WAS THE CENTURN REALLY GAY AND IF SO, WHY DID PL SPEAK AGAST HOMOSEXUALY?
• DID THE CENTURN AND HIS SERVANT HAVE A GAY RELATNSHIP?
• HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
• EL CENTURIóN EVANGéLI ERA GAY

THE 200-YEAR-OLD DIARY THAT'S REWRG GAY HISTORY

Dpe the clary of the Christian church’s stance towards homosexualy, there are a number of stori throughout the Bible which, on closer examatn, reveal a potentially homoerotic unrcurrent.

WAS THE CENTURN REALLY GAY AND IF SO, WHY DID PL SPEAK AGAST HOMOSEXUALY?

I will nsir one of the stori, and how teracts wh Christian teachgs about homosexualy. Levic’ Law on Homosexualy The nmnatn of homosexualy Christiany and Judaism is ultimately rooted this teachg om Levic, the third book of the Old Ttament and the Torah: “Do not have sexual relatns wh a man as one do wh a woman; that is ttable.

12, NIV Although this appears to be a nclive nmnatn of homosexualy, there is some evince to suggt that the Book of Levic was posed over time by a multu of wrers, as is te of many ancient texts; if this was the se, there may have been a versn of the book which stayed silent on the issue of homosexualy, as some scholars argue. In light of this possibily, I will now nsir a story om the New Ttament, which J appears to allow, and even endorse, a homosexual relatnship. A Homoerotic Interpretatn Many scholars have highlighted the nnotatn of the Greek noun pais, which the centurn to scribe his ill servant.

DID THE CENTURN AND HIS SERVANT HAVE A GAY RELATNSHIP?

Instead, many have suggted a readg of the pais as his male lover, due to lerary evince of homosexualy the Roman ary. If we accept the theory that the nnectn of the centurn and his servant is homoerotic, then J’ amazement at the centurn’s fah be highly signifint the discsn of relign and sexualy.

Rather than remendg the ath sentence that is prcribed for male homosexualy Levic 20, J prais the man’s fah, tellg the crowd that he has never seen anythg like , and heals the pais. Far om nmng homosexualy, J might be endorsg . Image ptn, Claire Pickerg Wakefield library imag the diary wrer speakg a Yorkshire accentA diary wrten by a Yorkshire farmer more than 200 years ago is beg hailed as providg remarkable evince of tolerance towards homosexualy Bra much earlier than prevly imaged.

Historians om Oxford Universy have been taken aback to disver that Matthew Tomlson's diary om 1810 ntas such open-md views about same-sex attractn beg a "natural" human diary challeng prenceptns about what "ordary people" thought about homosexualy - showg there was a bate about whether someone really should be discrimated agast for their sexualy. "In this excg new disvery, we see a Yorkshire farmer argug that homosexualy is nate and somethg that shouldn't be punished by ath, " says Oxford rearcher Eamonn O' ptn, The diari were handwrten by Tomlson the farmhoe where he lived and workedThe historian had been examg Tomlson's handwrten diari, which have been stored Wakefield Library sce the thoands of pag of the private journals have never been transcribed and prevly ed by rearchers terted Tomlson's eye-wns acunts of electns Yorkshire and the Ludd smashg up O'Keeffe me across what seemed, for the era of Gee III, to be a rather startlg set of arguments about same-sex relatnships. Tomlson had been prompted by what had been a big sex sndal of the day - which a well-rpected naval surgeon had been found to be engagg homosexual ptn, Historian Eamonn O'Keeffe says the diari provi a rare sight to the views of "ordary people" the early 1800sA urt martial had orred him to be hanged - but Tomlson seemed unnvced by the cisn, qutng whether what the papers lled an "unnatural act" was really that unnatural.

HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI

"It mt seem strange ed that God Almighty should make a beg wh such a nature, or such a fect nature; and at the same time make a cree that if that beg whom he had formed, should at any time follow the dictat of that Nature, wh which he was formed, he should be punished wh ath, " he wrote on January 14 there was an "clatn and propensy" for someone to be homosexual om an early age, he wrote, " mt then be nsired as natural, otherwise as a fect nature - and if natural, or a fect nature; seems cel to punish that fect wh ath" diarist mak reference to beg rmed by others that homosexualy is apparent om an early age - suggtg that Tomlson and his social circle had been talkg about this se and discsg somethg that was not unknown to this time, and also Wt Yorkshire, a lol landowner, Anne Lister, was wrg a d diary about her lbian relatnships - wh her story told the televisn seri, Gentleman knowg what "ordary people" really thought about such behavur is always difficult - not least bee the loust survivg voic are ually the wealthy and has exced amics is the chance to eavdrop on an everyday farmer thkg aloud his source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Tomlson was appalled by the levels of rptn durg electns"What's strikg is that he's an ordary guy, he's not a member of the bohemian circl or an tellectual, " says O'Keeffe, a doctoral stunt Oxford's history acceptance of homosexualy might have been exprsed privately aristocratic or philosophilly radil circl - but this was beg discsed by a ral worker.

O'Keeffe says shows ias were "perlatg through Brish society much earlier and more wily than we'd expect" - wh the diary workg through the bat that Tomlson might have been havg wh his the were still far om morn liberal views - and O'Keeffe says they n be extremely "jarrg" someone was homosexual by choice, rather than by nature, Tomlson was ready to nsir that they should still be punished - proposg stratn as a more morate optn than the ath ptn, Tomlson's former home was still there the 1930s (bottom left), but has sce disappeared beneath hog and a golf urseO'Keeffe says disverg evince of the kds of bate has both "enriched and plited" what we know about public opn this pre-Victorian diary is raisg ternatnal Fara Dabhoiwala, om Prceton Universy the US, an expert the history of attus towards sexualy, scrib as "vivid proof" that "historil attus to same-sex behavur uld be more sympathetic than is ually prumed". Instead of seeg homosexualy as a "horrible perversn", Prof Dabholwala says the rerd showed a farmer 1810 uld see as a "natural, dively ordaed human qualy" Norton, an expert gay history, said there had been earlier arguments fendg homosexualy as natural - but the were more likely to be om philosophers than farmers. Th, his ncln was that by dog this, J sentially affirmed and ndoned, rather than nmned, homosexual sexual relatnships.

EL CENTURIóN EVANGéLI ERA GAY

As Prton Sprkle explas his excellent book, People to Be Loved: Why Homosexualy is Not Jt an Issue, was mon the Gre-Roman culture of J’ day for homosexual sex to be part of the power differential a relatnship, but only as long as the domant partner was olr, of higher social standg, and the peratg role. Furthermore, Sprkle go on to expla that such relatnships the ancient world were not at all like our morn nceptn of a gay uple a lovg, nsensual, -equal relatnship. For example, the peratg partner such relatnships was not necsarily nsired “gay” or “same-sex attracted, ” rather this was an act of subjugatg the passive partner and was about assertg power.