Homosexuality

The rainbow flag is a symbol used to support gay and lesbian pride since the 1970s. Designed by Gilbert Baker, all the rainbow colors symbolize diversity in the LGBT community.

Homosexuality (from the ancient Greek ὁμός, 'equal', and from the Latin sexus, 'sex') is the romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between members of the same sex. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attraction to persons of the same sex. It also refers to the sense of identity based on those attractions, the related behaviors, and belonging to a community that shares those attractions.

It is difficult to reliably estimate the percentage of the homosexual population or the proportion of people who have homosexual experiences for various reasons, primarily because many homosexuals do not openly identify as such, due to homophobia. There is no consensus. in the scientific community around the specific causes for which an individual develops a sexual orientation that is heterosexual, bisexual, homosexual, or directed towards third sexes or genders. Science tends to favor biological models, but the scientific consensus is that there is no single factor that explains the development of sexual orientation. Sexual orientation is determined by a complex interplay of biological and environmental factors and is determined at a very young age, well before puberty. Some studies have shown that, in the case of male homosexuality, biological factors predominate over male homosexuality. environmental and social, but they have also shown that this causality is less in female homosexuality.

There is no scientific evidence that an individual's childhood experiences or parental upbringing influence an individual's sexual orientation. The scientific consensus is that sexual orientation is not something a person can choose voluntarily, and there is no evidence that it is possible to change the sexual orientation that each person has. Homosexual affective-sexual relationships are psychologically equivalent to heterosexual ones, including their ability to raise children in homosexual families.

Homosexual behavior has been observed in hundreds of animal species, especially mammals and birds. Homosexuality is a normal and natural manifestation of human sexuality and is not in itself a source of negative psychological effects Although the term "homosexuality" does not appear until the 19th century, different human cultures have identified homosexual behaviors since at least the 1st millennium BC. C., and since then there have been multiple attitudes towards homosexuality: it has been both admired and condemned as seen with indifference. Western and Christian culture gestated by Europe and extended to the whole world through the process of westernization, was characterized by a strong rejection of homosexuality (homophobia), both from a criminal, medical-psychiatric and religious point of view; Since the mid-20th century, a growing LGBT mobilization and organization has been conquering rights and a progressive social acceptance of homosexuality and bisexuality, based on their decriminalization and depathologization.

Terminology

Safo and Erina in a Garden in Mitilene for Simeon Solomon. The term lesbian derives from Safo de Lesbos.

The word homosexuality was coined in 1869 by Karl Maria Kertbeny in an anonymous pamphlet supporting the repeal of Prussian "sodomy" laws. It was included in Psychopathia Sexualis (1886), a study by Richard von Krafft-Ebing about what was considered sexual deviance at the time. Although it is widely used today, it is worth noting that the existence of the category homosexual in itself, applied to people, is the object of contestation from different ideological points. Since some currents deny that the sexual orientation of a person defines it in any way. The ending -ism is sometimes considered pejorative, as is the case with the word homosexualism. This suffix has numerous definitions, ranging from "supporter of..." to "disease of...", as in the case of gigantism. For this reason, its use would define the idea that the homosexual community tended to promote its behaviors, or even that the homosexual condition should be understood as a mental deficiency. As society moved away from the belief that homosexuality is a disease, the term homosexuality was imposed, since the ending -ity only implies "quality of....» Today, the RAE only collects the latter.

Currently, the anglicism gay refers to a male homosexual individual; It has come to replace rude or offensive Spanish terms (eg cueco, culero, invertido, marica, maricón, puto, sarasa and sodomita; among others). Female homosexuality is also called lesbianism or lesbianity (lesbian quality). The corresponding adjectives are lesbian(s) and lesbian(s). This term comes from the island of Lesbos in Greece and from the poetess Sappho, to whom her passionate poems, dedicated to her friends, and life surrounded by other women earned her a reputation as a homosexual.

• Gay: homosexual man with a sexual orientation that makes him feel sexually and affectionately attracted to other people of his same sex. This is for other men. In the case of multi-sexual (bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual or polysexual) relationships with a man, some sites recommend using the "relationshipment" neologism Here.».
• Lesbian: homosexual woman with a sexual orientation that makes her feel sexually and affectionately attracted to other people of her same sex. This is for other women. In the relationships of multi-sexuals (bisexuals, pansexuals, omnisexuals or polysexuals) with a woman, some sites recommend using the term "sacific relationship", even when they are treated as synonyms.

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  Gay flag

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  Flag of the Netherlands

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  lesbian flag

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  Safe flag

Academic study on the causes of homosexuality

The widespread belief that developmental experiences in childhood, influence and relationship with parents, "bad company", etc. can explain homosexual orientation, it is as discussed as its explanation based on biological causes. On the one hand, many natural-scientific fields try to show that many specific cases of homosexuality have a biological cause. Empirical data from reality and experimental results in non-human animals are consistent with various biological theories and are incompatible with sociocultural theory. On the other hand, the history of science and the social sciences argue with sociocultural data that sexual orientation is the product of a confrontational relationship between human biology and the sociocultural environment, and that often political power over bodies and cultural meaning of sexual orientation goes beyond "naturalness" of this one.

Prenatal Neuroendocrine Theory

Two women kissing in Tunisia, 1904.

During gestation, the embryo grows in size while the various organs of the new being differentiate. Some embryos (XX) transform into female fetuses and others (XY) into male fetuses, which has its most evident manifestation in the genital organs. But, if you accept the presumption that the "masculine" it is everything corresponding to men and the "feminine" everything corresponding to women, all organs are feminized or masculinized, mainly the brain, as a result of the action of testosterone (masculinization) or due to the lack of testosterone (feminization). Genital sexual differentiation occurs during the first trimester of pregnancy and cerebral sexual differentiation between the second and third trimester. Since both processes are out of step in time, it can happen that a human female brain differentiates into a fetus with human male genitalia. Similarly, the brain of a female fetus can be masculinized. The brain of many women, regardless of the person's genital sex, determines a sexual orientation towards men. In the same way, the brain of men, regardless of the biological sex of the person, determines sexual attraction to women. Male sex with a female brain will turn out to be "gay" in this way. A female sex with a male brain is consequently a 'lesbian'. Sexual orientation is determined prenatally by the imprint of hormones on the brain during pregnancy. During childhood and adolescence, sexual hormones develop secondary sexual characteristics (change of voice, beard, pubic hair, etc.) and activate the prenatally established sexual orientation, but cannot change it.

This theory is experimentally proven in non-human mammals and, if comparison is possible, is supposed to explain most cases of homosexual orientation. It is also known that there are other biological mechanisms (the so-called FBO effect) that explain other cases of homosexuality. And it seems quite likely that some epigenetic mechanism is also at work in other cases.

Neurologic Manifestations

Some researchers have argued that there are neurological manifestations of homosexuality. In 1991, the American neuroscientist Simon LeVay published a paper called "A difference in hypothalamic structure between homosexual and heterosexual men". The work argued that the third interstitial nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus (INAH3) was, in average, twice as large in heterosexual men as in heterosexual women. In homosexual men the size of INAH3 was similar to that of heterosexual women. INAH3, due to its location and connections, is the human equivalent of the so-called sexually dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area (SDN-POA) of other studied mammals (rats and sheep) that is known to be related to the sexual behavior of these non-human animals.

LeVay's paper did not achieve "the required degree of consensus" for a scientific investigation. Willian Bayne, from the Albert Einstein Faculty of Medicine, has pointed out that it lacks sufficient strength in crucial aspects to obtain these results, such as the histological staining technique used and the strong disagreement of the scientific community about the brain regions that they present sexual dimorphism.

It has also been argued that an association between the size of the SDN-POA and sexual preference has been demonstrated in sheep: homosexual rams show a smaller size of this nervous structure than heterosexual ones and similar to that of sheep. Cerebral sexual dimorphism in sheep occurs before birth and regardless of sexual experience. Other works conclude that structures of the human central nervous system (commissure of the corpus callosum, suprachiasmatic nucleus, etc.) also show size differences related to sexual orientation (mental sex) rather than the person's genital sex.

The Dutch neuroscientist Dr. Dick Swaab, founder of the Brain Bank of the University of Amsterdam, mentions that a large number of factors such as neural circuits, genetic factors and hormones interfere with sexual orientation; but it emphasizes that, during the first six months of gestational life, a sexual imprint is established in the brain and that in two subsequent and important stages, during the first two years of life and adolescence, there are highly active changes hormone that can consolidate the way in which each individual exercises their sexuality.

Controversial works have also been published that mention findings regarding the consumption of medications in pregnant women, especially within the first two trimesters of gestational life, such as the use of analgesics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that can inhibit the production and synthesis of essential prostaglandins in the fetal hypothalamic neural configuration and may be crucial in defining characteristics of sexual orientation.

Psychoanalytic point of view

Homosexuality, as a psychological category, is constituted from an article by Carl Westphal in 1870 on "contrary sexual sensations".

For psychoanalysis, homosexuality is not given by genetics but is a choice. Not a voluntary or conscious choice or something that the subject can modify at will, but an unconscious choice. There would be nothing in human nature that dictated that men should be attracted to women and women should be attracted to men.

The choice of love object, that is, falling in love with a man or a woman, is something that would be defined from the resolution of the Oedipal conflict in all human beings, whether homosexual or heterosexual. In the case of homosexuals, instead of choosing the parent of the opposite sex, when leaving the Oedipus, the parent of the same sex would be chosen as the love object. That choice would depend more on the type of bond created with each parent than on nature or instincts.

During the 20th century there were psychoanalysts who considered homosexuality within the perverse structure, but this concept of perversion does not have the pejorative or moralizing vulgar connotation, but simply encompasses all sexual practices that do not lead to reproduction, including caresses and kisses.

In the XXI century it is argued that homosexuality appears both in a perverse mental structure and in a neurotic or psychotic structure and we no longer speak of homosexuality but of homosexualities. Sexuality in general is thought of as a more polymorphous plurality.

Freud derived homosexuality from psychic bisexuality, common to all human beings, and said that trying to transform a homosexual into a heterosexual was as impossible as trying to transform a heterosexual into a homosexual.

Other points of view

Kinsey Report

The Kinsey Report establishes varying degrees of bisexuality, indicates in blue the proportion of homosexual practices.

Thus, later, the scientific studies carried out by Alfred C. Kinsey, concluded that, analyzed both the behavior and the identity, the majority of the population seems to have at least some bisexual tendency (attraction towards people of both one as of the other sex), although ordinarily one sex or the other is preferred. Kinsey and his students considered only a minority (5–10%) to be completely heterosexual or completely homosexual. In the same way, only an even smaller minority can be considered fully bisexual, and varying degrees of bisexuality were established. Later studies have wanted to show that Kinsey's report had exaggerated the prevalence of bisexuality in the population; but still the idea of him enjoys a great acceptance.

Queer Theory

Some thinkers in gender studies, such as the French philosopher Michel Foucault (although some have argued that his views on this subject have been distorted) or the philosopher Judith Butler, attack the idea that sexual identities—such as homosexuality, heterosexuality or bisexuality - have any objective existence. They say, instead, that they are social constructions. This theoretical point of view is called queer theory. A frequent argument is that premodern homosexuality was different from modern homosexuality in that it was structured by age, sex, or class, rather than egalitarian. Critics counter that, although homosexuality at different times has had different features, the basic phenomenon has always existed and is not a creation of today's society.

Judith Butler (2000) has exerted a great influence within feminist theory and queer studies for proposing an imitative and representative conception of gender. Gender Trouble is the initiatory text of Queer Theory; In it, Butler (1990) points out that genre is essentially identification, which consists of a fantasy within another fantasy: The genre is defined, according to Butler, in what he calls performance, that is, the repetition that constantly imitates the fantasy that constitutes meanings in an embodied way. Under this vision, the highly criticized behaviors such as the mannerism of some gays and transsexuals, or the butch (truck driver)/feme relationships with their particular imitation of the genre reveal, according to Butler, the imitative structure proper to the genre. In “Gender imitation and insubordination” (2000) Butler questions the possibility of theorizing as a lesbian, since this is a category of identity, a requirement to become what one already is. Identity categories tend to be instruments of regulating regimes, whether they act as normalizing categories of oppressive structures, or if they serve as a meeting point for a liberating opposition. In other words, the "lesbian" category is as regulatory as the "heterosexual" category. For Butler, any category of identity controls eroticism, describes, authorizes, and, to a much lesser extent, liberates. The theory should not be understood in the simple sense of disinterested contemplation, but is wholly political. Butler refuses to become a defender of any theory that legitimizes and domesticates studies on homosexuality/lesbianism to enter the academic world, through elitist practices. Part of the Foucauldian idea that talking about "homosexuality" is itself an extension of homophobic discourse. Naming lesbianism is at the same time evoking the instrument of power, but also a point of resistance to oppression. Sexuality ceases to be sexuality after subjecting it to absolute explicitness.

Roughgarden Social Selection

One of the latest theories proposed for homosexuality is based on the so-called social selection. Proposed by Stanford University biology professor Joan Roughgarden, the theory challenges Darwin's sexual selection. Basically it denies the reduction of sexual diversity to two sexes, one masculine and aggressive and the other feminine and self-conscious. With numerous examples from the animal kingdom and from non-Western cultures, he shows that nature and different societies offer solutions to sexuality: fish with several different types of males or whose components change sex if necessary; mammals that have both male and female reproductive organs, etc. In the case of human biology, she affirms that the existence of homosexuals, transsexuals and intersexuals is nothing more than a natural variation that integrates perfectly with the diversity shown by other animals. The social expression of this diversity would be found in societies such as the Native Americans, with their two spirits, the Polynesian mahu, the Indian hijra or eunuchs, who identifies with transgender people.

Homosexuality in the population

Samurai kisses kabuki actor ca. 1750.

People who are generally of a heterosexual orientation may have mild or occasional desires for people of the same sex, just as those who are generally of a homosexual orientation may have mild or occasional desires for people of the opposite sex.

There are people with a homosexual orientation who, due to conditions of intolerance and violence or difficult access to other people of the same sex, have forced themselves to maintain heterosexual relationships. Repression, homophobia, and the position of most religions force homosexuals to hide their orientation by pretending to society that they have a heterosexual orientation, which is colloquially called "being in the closet" or "in the closet." However, authors such as Dr. Joseph Nicolosi state that if many homosexuals hide their sexual orientation, it is not so much due to social repression, which is not denied as a secondary factor, but rather because homosexuality itself represents for homosexuals a condition of incompatibility both with the established social bases and with their particular system of moral values, that is to say, that there is a conflict between what one is and what one should be according to the family education that has been given, as well as to certain degrees of sexual identity disorder.

Nowadays, there are people with a homosexual orientation who are 'coming out' or that they have 'come out of the closet', which would apply to people who stop pretending or repressing their sexual orientation.

Sexual activity with a person of the same sex is not necessarily considered homosexuality as a sexual orientation, but homosexual behavior. Not everyone who desires people of the same sex identifies as gay or bisexual. Some often have sexual relations with people of the same sex, although they persist in affirming that they are and define themselves as heterosexual. It would then be possible to distinguish between behavior, desire and homosexual identity, which do not always coincide. For example, in some sex-segregated sites, "situational" homosexual relationships may appear, even though the behavior is heterosexual outside there. The same can happen for economic reasons or beyond our control.

The Kinsey report reported that 37 percent of American men admitted that they had experienced an orgasm through sexual contact with another man. Most randomized studies conducted in the United States and Western Europe estimate that about 8 percent of men and women admit to having had any homosexual experience, and about 2 percent admit to a preference for exclusively homosexual experiences. The National Opinion Research Center ("National Opinion Research Center" #34;, in Spanish) has reported that approximately 0.7 percent of American men consider themselves homosexual.

Medical Organizations and Homosexuality

Historically, the first important event in this field was given by the board of directors of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in 1973, unanimously deciding to remove homosexuality as a disorder from the section Sexual Deviations from the second edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-II), a reference manual in Western countries in the field of psychiatry. Normally these decisions did not cause major problems, but in this particular case they caused a great controversy among the more than 20,000 members of the APA, which finally forced, for the first and last time in the organization's 174-year history, a vote of all members on the council's decision. 58% ratified what was agreed by the board of directors.

Finally, the initial diagnosis was modified by another softer category of "sexual orientation disturbances", which would be replaced later, in the third edition (DSM-III), by the term egodystonic homosexuality (permanent stress caused by non-acceptance of one's own sexual orientation), which in turn would be eliminated from the revision of that same edition (DSM-III-R) in 1986. The APA now classifies the persistent and intense discomfort about one's own sexual orientation as one of the "unspecified sexual disorders".

Those who have criticized these decisions say they were the result of political pressure from LGBT activist groups, and not the product of scientific research. These activists in turn drew on the empirical studies of, among others, Alfred Kinsey and Evelyn Hooker. These studies supported the notion that the psychiatric profession had accepted without evidence assumptions about the connection between homosexuality and certain forms of psychological maladjustment, or that homosexuality was a "symptom" of mental pathology.

Clinton Anderson, director of the American Psychological Association's (APA) Office of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Affairs, stressed the need to rely on scientific evidence rather than ideology when assessing the overall position of psychologists against to gays and lesbians, and defended the need for some conservative groups not to participate in said decision-making. Members of the APA also consider the debate on the new study by psychiatrist Robert Spitzer in which he changes his opinion and affirms that sexual orientation can be modified.

The rationale Spitzer gave earlier for suppressing homosexuality as a diagnosis in 1973 was that, to be considered a psychiatric disorder, "it must regularly cause subjective distress or be frequently associated with some impairment in social effectiveness or functioning." Like other sexual conditions that are classified within the list of disorders, homosexuality itself does not have these requirements to be considered a psychiatric disorder, since many people are quite satisfied with their sexual orientation and show no generalized deterioration in effectiveness or social functioning.

Currently, US and international organizations such as the American Medical Association, the American Counseling Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the American Academy of Pediatrics (American Academy of Pediatrics), the National Association of School Psychologists (National Association of School Psychologists), the American Academy of Medical Assistants (American Academy of Physician Assistants), the World Health Organization (WHO) and many others have also stopped considering homosexuality as a disease, following in part the 1973 APA decision.

On May 17, 1990, the World Health Organization (WHO) excluded homosexuality from the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and other Health Problems. The UK government did the same in 1994, followed by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation in 1999 and the Chinese Society of Psychiatry in 2001.

Additionally, various professional organizations, including the American Psychological Association, do not consider attempts to modify homoerotic sexual orientation to be professionally ethical procedures, as such attempts have not produced satisfactory clinical results, and the concept of Behavioral functionality has evolved in favor of "people" versus coercive social control.

Process of acceptance and formation of homosexual identity

There are different models that describe the processes by which a person questions their sexuality, defines their identity and accepts themselves.

• Viviane Cass model developed in 1979. It describes the process with six sequential stages: confusion, comparison, tolerance, identity, pride and integration.
• Troiden model, 1979 for teenagers.
• Woodman and Lenna Model, described in his 1980 work Counseling with gay men and women: a guide for facilitating positive life-styles
• Coleman model, described in his 1981 work Developmental stages of the coming out process. Journal of Homosexuality
• Fassinger model of 1996.
• Sonia Soriano Rubio model, described in his 2004 work Gay and lesbian teens in the field of education: reality analysis and general lines for an educational proposal

Homosexuality throughout history

Homosexuality has been present in societies since very ancient times, and fairly well documented cases of homosexuality have been found since the earliest antiquity.

In Greece and Rome

Kylix attic (sixteenth century)Va. C.) who represents a lover (/25070/ρασενος) kissing his beloved (/25070/ρενος). The representations of pederast scenes are abundant in Greek art.

The place of the homosexual in society and the perception of homosexuality vary greatly between societies and times. In ancient Greece, for example, it was considered normal for a boy (between puberty and beard growth) to be the lover of an older man, who took care of the beloved's political, social, scientific, and moral education. But it was considered rarer for two adult men to have a loving relationship (although it is seen to be normal in the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus, or in couples of Theban soldiers and even in the relationship between Alexander the Great and Hephaestion). When talking about homosexuality in the armies of ancient Greece, the Theban sacred troops are mainly mentioned, but this is not the only example of homoerotic or homosexual practices among the soldiers of the Greek armies. They were frequently used both in training and military training, as well as to maintain morale and strengthen the ties and combat spirit of the troops in times of war.

There are numerous examples of lyrical literature extolling love and homoerotic relationships. The Latino poets of the time take it for granted that all men feel homosexual desire at one time or another. Examples of poets with some work that praise these relationships are Catullus, Horace, Virgil or Ovid. It is worth noting the fact that being "passive" was not socially well regarded, since it was considered that being so meant being intellectually inferior and more inexperienced than the other. that he assumed an "active" role. It is also noteworthy that female homosexuality was not well regarded; the Greek maxim was, in this regard, that "the woman was for reproduction, but the man for pleasure." It was recognized that it was necessary to preserve the lineage, the species, but that pleasure could only be found in the intimate relationship with another man, since the man was considered a more perfect being than the woman and, therefore, the union between two men would be more perfect. For his part, Marcial defends pedophilic relationships, extolling love for the ephebe, not their mere sexual use. In an anecdotal passage he mentions that he is discovered by her wife "inside a boy", she reproaches him with contempt, saying that he could not give her the same as her. He retorts with a list of mythological characters who, despite being married, have a young male lover and ends by saying that the difference with a woman is only that she has two 'vaginas'.

Antinoo, the young Greek lover of Emperor Publio Elio Adriano.

In ancient Rome, although some authors such as Tacitus or Suetonius considered homosexuality as a sign of moral degeneration and even civic decadence, it was relatively common for a man to penetrate a slave or a young man, while the opposite was the case. considered a disgrace. Julius Caesar, the great military genius, was said to be vir omnium mulierum et mulier omnium virorum, that is, 'the husband of all women and the wife of all husbands'. Famous for his love affairs with the women of the Roman nobility, the rumors about his homosexuality have their origin in 80 a. C., when the young Julius Caesar was sent as ambassador to the court of Nicomedes. Apparently, the Asian king was so dazzled by the beauty of the young Roman messenger that he invited him to rest in his room and participate in a feast where he served as royal cupbearer during the banquet. Her stay in Bithynia generated strong rumors that the two - Julius Caesar and Nicomedes - were lovers, which motivated Julius Caesar's political opponents to call her "queen of Bithynia", even long after her stay in the kingdom. Both Mark Antony and Octavian (the latter known later as Augustus Caesar) were reported to have male lovers. Suetonius again records that the Emperor Nero, taking the passive role with the freedman Doryphorus, imitated the screams and moans of a young woman. Emperor Galba, too, was attracted to strong, experienced men. And on several occasions soldiers were reportedly sexually assaulted by their superior officers.

Detail in the Warren cup of a young man being penetrated by a man.

In the I century, Suetonius and Tacitus note the generalization of marriages between men without obstacles, since marriage in the Roman partnership was a private contract. Emperor Nero was the first Roman emperor to marry another man, a young palace eunuch named Sporus who was turned into Sabina by Nero to replace his late beloved Poppaea. Edward Gibbon already in 1776 confirms that of the first twelve emperors only Claudius was exclusively interested in women. All the others had boys or men as lovers.The fact that Claudius had no male lover was criticized by Suetonius in his work The Lives of the Twelve Caesars.

The practice of pedophilia peaked during the reign of Emperor Hadrian. He is famous for his love for the young Greek Antinous. After his untimely death by drowning, Hadrian erected temples in Bithynia, Mantineia, and Athens in his honor, and even dedicated a city, Antinoopolis, to him. Notable is the young Emperor Heliogabalus, known for his numerous lovers and who at the turn of the century III as a teenager scandalized his contemporaries by marrying publicly twice dressed as a woman, thus explicitly adopting the passive role in the relationship. There are multiple anecdotes about his lascivious behavior, and the soldiers of his personal guard were known as the "donkey tails" for being recruited from among the most gifted in the baths. The emperor of the 3rd century Philip the Arab, though believed to be the first Christian emperor, was known for his fondness for boys. The social acceptance of pederastic and homoerotic relationships declined over the centuries as Christianity was established. In fact, after the conversion of Constantine, the association of the Church with the imperial power resulted in the incorporation into the laws of aspects relating to sexual life. Thus, under Emperor Theodosius (Lex Dei, s. IV) passive homosexuals who prostituted themselves were punished by burning at the stake. Justinian interpreted homosexuality as a human and divine offense against the time (Codex Iustinianus, s. VI), extending the persecution to all homosexuals without exception, who will suffer corporal punishment (including genital mutilation), imprisonment and even death. These Late Antique codes, influenced by Christian doctrines, would lay the foundations for legislation against homosexuality in the Middle Ages.

In other latitudes

A quick look at history shows that homosexuality has existed in all civilizations whether East or West or North or South. It existed between the Chinese and the Japanese- which they called "shudo"-. Between the Mochicas and the Quechuas, the Aztecs, narrated in the chronicles. The Greeks and Romans glorified homosexuality and the importance given to it in the poems of The Iliad, and other literature is well known.

The Inquisition

Burn of the knight of Hohenberg and his servant condemned to die in the bonfire by sodomy by the wall of Zurich, 1482.

The persecution of homosexuality by the Catholic Church was constant throughout the Middle Ages, although sodomy was a useful accusation that was sometimes joined, and not always distinguished, from that of heresy, which makes frankly difficult any analysis. The most notorious trials, such as the attack against the Templars, accused of indulging in homosexual and heretical practices, are all suspected and promoted for political reasons. Under normal circumstances the noble and privileged were rarely accused of this class of crimes, which fell almost entirely on people of little importance and about whom little is known.

During the V to the XVIII centuries, torture and capital punishment, generally at the stake, were the punishments to which most of Europe was condemned to homosexuals. The Holy Inquisition of the Catholic Church does not differ much, in its persecution of homosexuality, from what was common almost everywhere, and it is guilty of the torture and death of innumerable people accused of the so-called heinous sin.

There are still expressions in the language (in various languages) that refer to the burning of homosexuals at the stake:

• Finocchio (Fine), which in Italian means ‘maricón’ and also ‘son’ (because the person was wrapped in hynox leaves to slow his agony between the flames); although there is an erroneous opinion (wollen with homophobia) that the insulting perception is modern and comes from the term fall from hinojos or kneel (to perform oral sex). But in Italian, kneel That's it. ginocchioand not Finocchio;
• faggotwhich in today’s English means ‘maricón’, but which in the past meant ‘made of wood’, and relates to the wood that homosexuals were burned alive until they died for their sin. against natura.

Homosexuality in piracy

In a maritime environment devoid of women or a single-sex social group, homosexuality and homosexual practices were widely accepted and part of daily life in the world of buccaneers or pirates. Most pirates rejected heterosexuality even when the possibility of having sexual contact with women, usually prostitutes, existed in the ports. Captured women were rarely used sexually, but rather were held for ransom. Some pirates preferred young boys, which is why they used to kidnap them and force them to learn seamanship by being trained by a tutelary pirate. The pirate and his "apprentice" created strong bonds, even sleeping and eating together, sometimes sharing the booty. Pirates formed the first homosexual "marriages" or unions in modern history in the institution known as matelotage. It was a contractual union between two men, which included the inheritance of property in the event of the death of one of the "spouses". The "matelot" was generally the youngest or most economically disadvantaged pirate, sexual partner or companion. Some notable characters who were in a situation of matelotage were Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin, a French surgeon on Henry Morgan's expedition; pirates Bartholomew Roberts and John Walden(AKA Miss Nanney); Robert Culliford and John Swann. There are also known cases of female pirates with homosexual tendencies or traits, such is the case of Anne Bonny and Mary Read.

Nazi persecution of homosexuals

During the Nazi era, homosexuality was considered an inferiority and a genetic defect, for which an article of a law of the German penal code of 1871 was applied. It was paragraph 175 that said: "A unnatural sexual act committed between males or humans with animals is punishable by imprisonment. You can also order the loss of your civil rights."

Pink triangle, symbol imposed by the Nazis on homosexuals in concentration camps.

During the Weimar Republic ‒between the end of World War I and the rise of Hitler‒ this law was rarely put into practice, so Berlin in the 1920s was considered a place of high gay life. With the advent of Nazism, Germans considered homosexual were imprisoned or interned in concentration camps, where many were murdered. According to the German historian Klaus Müller, it is estimated that approximately 100,000 men were arrested under the aforementioned criminal article between 1933 and 1945. Approximately half were sentenced to prison; Of these, between 15,000 and 10,000 were sent to concentration camps, of which about 4,000 survived at the end of the war.

Prisoners considered homosexual in concentration camps were identified with a pink inverted triangle. Those homosexuals who were also Jews were forced to wear a Star of David whose inverted triangle was pink. This symbol, in memory of the extermination in the concentration camps, is currently used by associations that fight against discrimination based on sexual orientation.

After the war, the aforementioned paragraph remained the law in both Germanys until the late 1960s. Thus, some homosexuals who had survived Nazi concentration camps were re-arrested under that law. As late as 1998 the German parliament passed a law to annul unjust sentences imposed during the Nazi administration of criminal justice. Two groups were excluded from the full annulment of unfair Nazi sentences: army deserters and gay people. In this way, homosexual survivors were prevented from the procedures aimed at cleaning up their legal stigma and receiving compensation for the injustices suffered, as is the case with other victims. It was not until 2002 when said law was modified to include homosexuals.

Homosexuals were among the groups that were exterminated in the Nazi Holocaust, although there was no systematic effort to eliminate all homosexuals (as Jews or Gypsies were, instead). Homosexuals who were sent to die in concentration camps were often singled out for harassment, torture, and special murder, both by the other inmates and by the guards.

Legal situation in the world

Law on LGBT Rights in the World

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Legal LGBT Activity Marriage Civil Unions Unregistered legal guardian or cohabitation (franjas: Non-binding certificates are offered) Recognition of same-sex marriages carried out in other subnational entities or other countries Limited recognition of unions in other countries No recognition Restrictions on freedom of expression and association Illegal LGBT activity Prison of iurenot implemented de facto (without arrests/detentions over the last three years) Arrests, imprisonment or illegal detention de facto Prison or death penalty of iurenot implemented de facto Death penalty (franjas: fatal cases in areas under military control or extrajudicial executions by local or national authorities)

See also: Decriminalization and Tip.

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Legality of Consensual Sexual Acts Between Adults of the Same Sex

Homosexuality is contemplated in different ways by different legal systems. As a first difference, there are countries where consensual sexual relations between adults of the same sex are punishable and others where it is not.

As of September 2019, 69 countries still have laws in place that, in various ways, criminalize consensual sexual acts between adults of the same sex. Botswana was the latest country to repeal such provisions from its penal code in June 2019. 2019. According to ILGA, in two of those 69 countries (Egypt and Iraq) criminalization has a legal basis in regulations that do not explicitly refer to this type of relationship but in practice the authorities and security forces interpret them to persecute people who have consensual sexual relations with others of the same sex.

Fight against discrimination

Constitutional protection

Some states have explicitly included the term "sexual orientation" in its non-discrimination clauses to protect people against discrimination based on that characteristic. This implies that the entire legal system of that country must abide by that legal principle. As of March 2019, there were 9 countries whose constitutions explicitly protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Other countries have incorporated protection into their constitutions through binding court decisions that make constitutional protection exist even though the text of the constitution does not expressly contain such protection. Such is the case of Canada, the United Kingdom or Taiwan. In Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela) sexual orientation is one of the grounds included in the prohibition of Discrimination in the Social and Labor Declaration.

Employment protection

According to information collected by ILGA in its State Homophobia report, as of March 2019 almost 40% of the world's countries (74 countries) contain legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment. The report highlights that being able to work without discrimination based on sexual orientation has been increasingly recognized as a fundamental right in many countries in all regions of the world.

In several countries, the law prohibits arbitrary dismissal based on sexual orientation and prevents discrimination in the granting of other protections and benefits related to labor rights. Notably, these types of protections also exist in some countries where consensual same-sex sexual acts are still criminalized, such as Mauritius, Saint Lucia, Kiribati and Samoa.

Equal rights with heterosexuals

Civil union

Civil union is one of several terms (in Mexico City there are, since November 9, 2006, the so-called cohabitation societies, a concept that applies not only to man-man and woman-woman couples, but to any other pair of people who, for reasons not even related to their sexual preference, live together) used for a marital status similar to marriage, created above all to allow homosexual couples access to the advantages enjoyed by heterosexual marriages. In some places, civil unions are also available for heterosexuals who do not wish to formalize their relationship in marriage. These heterosexual unions receive the legal name of free union. These unions become, in some states, identical to marriage, from which they only differ in name.

Gay marriage

Leader of the Family Forum against Homosexual Marriage in Spain.

Marriage between people of the same sex is the social, cultural and legal recognition that regulates the relationship and coexistence of two people of the same sex, with the same requirements and effects as those existing for marriages between people of different sexes. The discussion about this legal figure has remained active mainly in Western countries. In these debates, the progressive sectors of society are usually in favor, that is, those organizations that are in favor of the rights of the lesbian-gay community -bisexual-transgender (LGBT) and progressive political parties (which is not necessarily synonymous with left), among which are mostly social democrats, environmentalists, centrists and liberals. Against the approach of changes in the legislation are the conservative sectors of society (both the Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox Church, mainly), as well as the political parties that defend their ideals and/or traditional ways of life (the of conservative, nationalist or extreme right ideologies) and organizations of the same environment.

• Arguments in favour: mainly, those who have a pro-reform position claim that regularizing homosexual marriage new rights are granted to a group of citizens (the homosexuals and bisexuals) who so far do not have/have, in this way in some cases failing to comply with the Constitution or the existing legislation (by condemning inequality and discrimination, while some of the citizens cannot marry the person they want, while another part). With this extension of rights, they argue, the freedoms of other citizens are not affected.
• Arguments against: they often claim that there is only and exclusively a type of family and not several types of family, and their definition of family says that it is a unit for procreation and, since a couple of men, as well as a couple of women, cannot procreate through the "natural" (traditional) means, therefore the family is restricted to the union of a man with a woman. Another argument put on the mark during these debates is the etymological root of the word marriage, which comes from Latin, matri-moniumand it means "union of men and women arranged through certain rites or legal formalities". This second argument is especially aimed at not accepting that these unions are called marriage but rather in another way, however, maintaining most of the rights that this implies.

Adoption of children by homosexual couples

A gay couple taking care of a baby.

The adoption of children by homosexual couples is authorized by law in a small number of European and American territories. It gives homosexual couples the opportunity to have children, recognizing both as legal fathers or mothers. This expansion of rights does not usually have as much popular support as other measures to extend rights to members of this group (such as homosexual marriage), despite which more than 50 percent (more than half) of the population of Sweden and the Netherlands agrees with this measure.

Medical opinion is somewhat divided on the matter: for example, some consider that what is important for a correct growth of minors is not the sex of the parents, but the affection given to their children. Important associations of specialists, such as the American Association of Pediatrics or the Official College of Psychologists of Madrid, are in favor, and various scientific studies in this regard have not found that there is any disadvantage or deterioration in psychological development (neither intellectual nor emotional). in boys or girls raised by a couple of men or by a couple of women. However, people like Dale O'Leary, writer and researcher for the Catholic Medical Association of the United States, believe that there are risks for a child being adopted by homosexual couples.

Society and homosexuality

Many moralists and different members of religious groups continue to consider homosexuality to be a sexual deviation and a sin, which is why homosexuality has been prohibited in many countries and cultures throughout history, either by punishing Homosexuality itself or some sexual practices associated with it (such as anal penetration, oral penetration or masturbation), despite the fact that these practices are not exclusive to homosexual people. In many cultures, homosexual relations, even if consensual (that is, practiced by agreement of both partners), came to be considered a crime.

Lord Alfred Douglas and writer Oscar Wilde

Education on Homosexuality

Children's schools like schools in Massachusetts and other areas of the United States are already teaching elementary school children to equate homosexual relations with marriage between a man and a woman. Furthermore, in the name of tolerance (which means not only "to tolerate", but a deep consideration, through reflection, of human differences) and non-discrimination, children's stories have been created with themes homosexual, with the purpose that from an early age children perceive that homosexuality is one more natural variable in the diversity of the individual members of any society. This places many parents in an intolerable position for them, since they do not want to enter in particular about homosexuality with a young child, and the only solution for many of these parents has been to withdraw their children from those public schools and look for other alternatives.

Homophobia

Homophobia is aversion, irrational hatred, fear, prejudice or discrimination against homosexual men or women, although it also usually includes other people who make up sexual diversity, as is the case of bisexual people or transsexuals, and also those who maintain attitudes or habits commonly associated with the other sex, such as metrosexuals and people "with a pen".

These attitudes towards the homosexual community are widespread in various societies, being generally inversely proportional to the economic, democratic, cultural and urban development of a society (In this way, we find that where it is least widespread is in Western Europe and in the cities of the rest of the Western world, while it is much more pronounced in rural areas of developing countries).^{[citation needed]} As has already been seen in the various sections on the rights of the homosexual community, homosexuality is exposed to capital punishment in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, northern Nigeria, Qatar, Sudan, Yemen, some regions of Libya and Somalia, and in the territory controlled by the Islamic State in the countries of Iraq and Syria, while it is also persecuted and punished in other countries: Bangladesh, Guyana, Kuwait, Maldives, Marru echoes, Pakistan, Uganda, Tanzania...

Religion and Homosexuality

This section is an extract of Homosexuality and religion.[chuckles]edit]

Christians protesting at a 2006 San Francisco LGBT Pride March

The relationship between homosexuality and religion can vary greatly over time and geographical location, between different religions and sects, and in relation to different forms of homosexuality and bisexuality. At present, the doctrines of the greatest religions in the world contrast significantly between denomination and attitude towards homosexuality.

This is shown from discreet demotivation on homosexual activities, to the explicit prohibition of the practice of same-gender marriage and active social opposition to the acceptance of homosexuality. Some religions, such as Christianity and Islam, do not accept homosexuality, either because in accordance with their sacred books homosexual practices can be condemned, either because they consider the same orientation as sinful or at least they call it objectively disordered (as well as the catechism of the Catholic Church), and reject homosexual practices. Others, like the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, declare that only sexual act is sinful. Others fully accept homosexuals. Others, like Radical Faeries, actively promote homosexuality.

Some religions—such as scientology or some Christian confessions— declare that homosexuality is a disease that can be cured or corrected through religious faith and heterosexual practice.

On the other hand, some existing voices within many of these religions, which see homosexuality more positively, and some liberal religions, such as wicca, can bless marriages among people of the same kind, including several Christian churches. Others, like the adelphopoiesis in Christianity, considered fraternal love among members of the same sex as sacred. In the history of humanity you can find mythologies about the love between people of the same kind. In addition, gay conservative groups have expressed an approach to religious communities tolerant of homosexuality and inclusive with respect to the participation of homosexuals within their faithful, accepting them as such.

Situation by continents

Africa

Though denied or ignored by European explorers, homosexuality has been present in native Africa and has taken various forms:

• anthropologists Murray and Roscoe reported that women in Lesoto establish socially accepted "during and erotic" relationships, relationships that are called motsoalle.
• E. E. Evans-Pritchard reported that the Azande warriors (in the north of the Congo) routinely married young boys serving as temporary wives. This practice became obsolete at the beginning of the centuryXX.But the elders of the place reported it.
• An academic article by Stephen O. Murray examines the history of the descriptions of homosexuality in traditional sub-Saharan Africa.

Latin America

Homosexual practices in Latin America are legal in all countries in this region. The last country to decriminalize them was Nicaragua, ceasing to consider homosexuality a crime in the penal code that came into force in 2008. Cuba is a special case: homosexuality is legal and not punishable, although its treatment is still subject to a certain arbitrariness. In recent years, however, it seems that the persecution has subsided in the Caribbean country.

Even though homophobia is strong within some societies in this region, legislators have made efforts that have made Latin America one of the places with the most tolerant and progressive legislation in the world. Most countries have legislation against discrimination based on sexual orientation, among these states are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, and recently Puerto Rico and all the French dependencies in the Caribbean.

On July 15, 2010, Argentina became the first Latin American country to approve a same-sex marriage law. Followed three years later by Uruguay and Brazil in 2013, and Colombia in 2016. In Mexico only recognizes same-sex marriage in thirteen federative entities: in the capital (Mexico City) and 12 other states.

North America

Partial view of a homosexual couple taken from hand.

In North America, homosexuality is not legally persecuted in any territory, but in practice homosexuals are often subject to discrimination in various areas, especially in rural areas of the United States and in Mexico, since there are nuclei ultraconservatives who see it as a disease and, consequently, try to "heal" members of the collective or persecute her (although both physical and psychological abuse does not occur exclusively in these territories). Along the same lines, there are various places where parents of homosexuals send their children there to "cure" them.

However, in cities like New York or San Francisco and in Canada, members of the LGBT community are more respected, with homosexuality being accepted in a similar way as in Western Europe. In addition, it is in North America where the homosexual movement began to appear in a politically organized and relevant way due to the rejection of what happened at Stonewall. There are various publications geared towards this community, as well as meeting places. Films and series aimed at the homosexual community or that deal with homosexuality as a main theme are also produced (some examples, in the United States, are the television series Queer as Folk and Will & Grace and the film Brokeback Mountain, the latter directed by Ang Lee and translated in Latin America with the title Secreto en la montaña and in Spain as En terreno vedado); All of this makes the American homosexual community one of the most developed and visible in the world.

See the specific case of the so-called law of coexistence societies in Mexico City, Federal District.

Asian

In the Asian continent there are various laws regarding homosexuality, most of the countries of the Middle East are punishable from years in prison to the death penalty, except Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey. In the first and last, although they have anti-discrimination laws where homophobia is punished. In the countries of the Far East, in most of the countries it is legal, except in Burma, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and among others, which is only punishable from years in prison to life imprisonment. In countries like Cambodia, South Korea, Japan, Thailand and especially in the Philippines, there is already greater acceptance or tolerance where this sexual orientation is respected, although there is still isolated discrimination by some societies. Although they also have anti-discrimination laws to prevent homophobia.

Taiwan is the only Asian country to have a law allowing same-sex marriages since 2018.

In countries like China, North Korea, Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam and among others, homosexuality is legal but still repressed, although in China a high degree of acceptance or tolerance is re-emerging to recognize some legal rights. In India, homosexuality has also been definitively legal since 2018, when the Supreme Court decided in this regard. And it is that in this country homosexuality was legal between 2009 and 2013, when the Indian Parliament penalized it again. Despite being still considered a taboo subject by a quarter of the population, those who profess Hinduism still traditionally maintain respect for homosexuality with a sacred and religious character. In addition, in India some possibilities of recognizing certain rights such as same-sex marriage have been studied, although in the country there are some religious minority groups that oppose this marriage such as the Sikhs, the Islamic, and the Jewish and Christian communities.

Europe

In general, homosexuality in Europe is accepted and respected, being the area where homosexuals enjoy the best acceptance both by civil society and by the political class and legislation (it was there that both civil unions such as same-sex marriage). In any case, there are still clearly homophobic sectors of society and from some institutions (the case of the Polish government) homosexuality is not treated as in the rest of the continent. These last two situations occur more frequently in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe, where democracy has been operating for longer.

The European Parliament and the Council of Europe have recommended to all member states the inclusion in their legislation of anti-discrimination and equality measures for all minorities, including sexual ones, measures that are already in force in most of the Western Europe and are taking place in Eastern Europe.

Western Europe

In recent years, homosexuality in this region has a high degree of acceptance, although there may be isolated cases of discrimination by a minority of conservatives, especially in religious groups. Many countries (Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Portugal, Iceland, France, Luxembourg, Finland, Switzerland, Malta, Ireland and the United Kingdom) have equated all their citizens by admitting marriage between persons of the same same sex with full legal equality. In all these countries, discrimination and mistreatment of people for having a specific sexual orientation is penalized.

In the rest of Western Europe, homosexuality is legal, and all countries recognize some form of civil union except Monaco and Vatican City.

Eastern Europe

LGBT Column in Russia, on the March of May 1.

In Eastern Europe, homophobia and persistent discrimination is more accentuated than in Western Europe, even through legal measures and sanctions, both in the Balkans, including Greece, and in the Baltic countries: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (members of the European Union) and other break-off states of the former Soviet Union.

In Russia, the communist revolution of 1917 decriminalized homosexuality, repealing the crime of homosexuality in the penal code reforms of 1922 and 1926, which came from the time of the tsars. Decriminalization spanned the entire Soviet Union, and in those years Soviet LGBT communities experienced what has been called "a brief window of freedom". Later reforms reinstated criminalization, similar to Western Europe. With the fall of communism, homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia and other countries, although the situation is far from that of its western neighbors. In Russia, it has been clearly proposed to return to the criminalization of homosexuality, although this is not likely, considering Russia's membership in the Council of Europe. However, not criminalizing it does not prevent homophobia and discrimination, which are very evident in that country.

In contrast, in Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary and the Czech Republic, homophobia has decreased, due to belonging to or proximity to the European Union. In Croatia and Hungary, civil unions are allowed and discrimination based on sexual orientation is sanctioned. In the Czech Republic, civil unions are legal, as are equal marriages and adoption in Slovenia since the country's Constitutional Court declared its prohibition discriminatory on July 8, 2022.

Romania is a special case: despite being the only Eastern European country to violently overthrow a communist regime that criminalized homosexuality for many years, its reluctant decriminalization does not prevent homophobia, which is strong and persistent, but also there is a distant possibility that the legal code can be reformed, to extend some rights to same-sex couples. Something similar happens in its neighbor Bulgaria.

Oceania

Homosexual movement

Queer Nation an organization of the end of the centuryXX.which sought the union of LGBT people in the form of a nation-state.

Queer Nationalism

This section is an extract of Nationalism queer.[chuckles]edit]

The LGBT Flag would be a national symbol for nationalism I want to.

Nationalism queer, LGBT nationalism or homosexual nationalism is a movement of emancipation that is based on the idea that LGBTI people are not a group of human beings with minority sexual behaviors, but they are a people or nation because of their specific culture and customs.

Pride Day

International LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) Pride Day, also known as Gay Pride Day or simply Gay Pride, is the date on which a series of annual events are held in which Homosexuals celebrate publicly to urge for tolerance and equality and, of course, for the disappearance of myths and prejudices and the peaceful fight against violence against homosexual men and women. It is usually held at the end of June or the beginning of July, as June 28 is the date on which the Stonewall riots are commemorated (in which the police confronted a group of homosexuals and a fight broke out between the two groups in NY).