an lgbt history blog

a hist101 project by alex, fran h, rhianne and fran e. four students from ntu's hist101 class, 2018/19. we're delving into the past, looking at representation, persecution and people of interest and educating others on the secret lives of lgbtq+ through the ages.

[ntulgbthist]

Within the ancient Egyptian tale of Horus and Set, their rivalry leads them through many different tasks where they compete to see who would be the rightful king. Horus beats Set in many of the tasks, and he shows his dominance. Set disrupts this balance by performing intercrural sex and therefore dominating Horus. Horus runs and tells his mother, who is then said to cut his hands off.

This display of homoerotic interaction can be argued as harmful and clearly negative, and has lead to many scholars voicing their views that the ancient Egyptians actually disapproved of any homosexual contact. 

It however could be argued that the element of the assault that was the subject of disapproval was that Set was actually Horus’ uncle- yet this is unlikely, considering pharoahs often married within their own immediate family (brother and sister, father and daughter) in order to keep the bloodline pure. This incestuous behaviour is less likely to be an issue in the eyes of ancient Egyptian society.

Emma Brunner-Traut, Altägyptische Märchen. Mythen und andere volkstümliche Erzählungen, (Diederichs, Munich: 1991) pp.178-179

Richard Parkinson, ‘Homosexual Desire and Middle Kingdom Literature’. In: The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology (JEA), vol. 81, 1995, pp. 57–76.

[ntulgbthist]

Contrary to the practice of Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome had no concept of pederasty and the penetration of a male of any age was made illegal. The educational benefits that the Greeks hailed were not reflected in the mindset of the Romans, and the 1000-year old tradition of male same-sex love and pederasty was doomed from that point onwards. 

William Naphy, Born to be gay: a history of homosexuality, (Tempus, Stroud: 2006) p.57

[ntulgbthist]

Within William Naphy’s book ‘Born to be gay: a history of homosexuality’, Naphy draws comparison between the origins of homophobia to the shift from the ancient polytheist religions, to the early versions of modern monotheist religions. He asserts that the shift towards the structured religion of Judaism, for example, led to stricter laws centred around impure acts or sins. However, he asserts that it isn’t the homosexual nature that led to its prohibition, but rather that sex for pleasure rather than procreation (similarly with unmarried women) is seen as a sinful act. 

William Naphy, Born to be gay: a history of homosexuality, (Tempus, Stroud: 2006) pp.33-48

[ntulgbthist]

The poet, Gaius Valerius Catullus is another early figure associated with bisexuality. He refers to a female lover by the name “Lesbia”, which some scholars believe to refer to Clodia, wife of a roman consul and sister of a roman politician. 

However, he also displays bisexuality through his writing, where he expresses the following:

“If I should be allowed to go so far as kissing

Your sweet eyes, Juventius,

I would go on kissing them three hundred thousand times;

Nor would it ever seem I had had enough,

Not if I harvested

Kisses as numerous as the ears of standing corn”

This display of love and affection for a male highlights the (at the very least) fluid nature of his sexuality. This is also important as it shows that Rome may have had a more tolerant attitude towards alternative sexuality than previously considered.

Louis Crompton, Homosexuality and Civilisation (HUP: 2003) p.88

[ntulgbthist]

Elagabalus

Roman Emperor Elagabalus has many aspects of the LGBTQ community attributed to him.

Firstly, he is portrayed as possibly bisexual; he was allegedly married to five women (including a vestal virgin), but also referred to the charioteer Hierocles as his husband.

His relationship with Hierocles is of particular importance, as Elagabalus reportedly claimed that he was “happy to be called the wife, the mistress, the Queen of Hierocles”, which is a bold announcement for a Roman emperor to make. 

It is also possible that Elagabalus was fluid in his gender identity, or even transgender. Cassius Dio claims that “he carried his lewdness to such a point that he asked the physicians to contrive a woman's vagina in his body by means of an incision, promising them large sums for doing so.” This doesn’t however suggest he wished to remove his male nature, but to also create a female aspect to his body as well. This is an interesting phenomenon as it is one of the earliest clear references to a person without a strict idea of their own gender identity.

Cassius Dio, LXXX.16, page 471

[ntulgbthist]

Post-War Changes

After the end of the second World War, a return to normal life was unavoidable, however what was normal, varied for each person. For the gay community it the meant ‘witch hunts, bar raids, arrests and a retreat into the closet’. The community became, as Alan Bérubé phrases it, a group of ‘dangerous invisible enemies’. In this regression of the community, the F.B.I began surveilling gay and lesbian bars as well as keeping lists of gays and ‘associates of homosexuals’. The rhetoric was on such an offensive that the San Fransisco grand jury deemed the community an ‘invasion of sexual deviates’. ——————————————————————— Bérubé, ‘Different Drummer’, pp. 391-393.

[ntulgbthist]

Gay Men and Women in Military (WWII) [cont.]

Aside from the lesbian-central W.A.C of the American army, gay men also felt their freedom improved as it ‘could have its special advantages’. In a series of anonymous letters between lovers ‘Marty’ describes that his residence in the barracks are ‘an utterly simplified existence’ to his lover ‘Howard’. With guidelines to adhere to, all of which were easy for the soldiers to manuever around. Furthermore, the weekend freedoms of personnel gave rise to some gay-friendly bars, until the police and military increased their vigilance against them. ——————————————————————— Bérubé, ‘Different Drummer’, p. 90. Letters from ‘Marty’ to ‘Howard’ (pseudonyms), January 30 and 31 1945.

[ntulgbthist]

Freddie Mercury was the lead singer of the band Queen. The group ‘combined stirring rock anthems with sexually subversive lyrics and flamboyant onstage performances.’ John Forde states that Mercury ‘adopted and parodied a hyper masculine image’, with his moustache only to subvert this with ‘camp theatrically.’ Such as in the I Want To Break Free video he apprears in drag. In 1991, he revealed he had AIDS and died shortly after this press appearance. However, in 1992 Queen played a tribute concert in which the money went to an AIDS charity. This showed mass support for AIDS, reducing the taboo.

Source: David A Gerstner, Routledge international encyclopaedia of queer culture (Routledge: London: 2010), pp. 390-1.

[ntulgbthist]

Stonewall

Historians Elizabeth A. Armstrong and Suzanna M Crage explain the origins of the Stonewall riots, as on June 27th, 1969, New York police raided the Stonewall inn, which was a homosexual bar in Greenwich Village. The bar patrons fought back which created a riot. They state that these riots are typically viewed as the spark of the gay liberation movement and a turning point in the history of gay life in the United States. Historian Marc Stein also agrees with this stating that ‘no event in history, with perhaps the exception of the French revolution, deserves more to be considered a watershed’. Historian David Carter, described the scene at the start of the riots as ‘that men began to to go to pay phones’ and ‘telling [their friends] to rush down to the Stonewall’ this shows how the riots occurred and how mass crowds contributed.

Sources:

Elizabeth A Armstrong and Suzanna M Crage, ‘Movements and memory: The Making of the Stonewall Myth’ American Sociological Review, 71:5 (2006) p. 724.

David Carter, Stonewall: the riots that sparked gay revolution (Griffin: New York: 2011), p. 149.

[ntulgbthist]

Elton John

He made a name for himself in the 1970s with song such as ‘Rocket Man’ and ‘Candle in the Wind’. Fabio Cleto describes him as having ‘outrageous performances’ and ‘camp extravaganzas accompanied by an unparalleled set of over-the-top wardrobe items’. He was close with Princess Diana and he wrote her funeral epicedium. He is one of the few openly gay superstars with ‘increasingly flamboyant cosytumes and shows over the years’.

Sources:

 David A Gerstner, Routledge international encyclopaedia of queer culture (Routledge: London: 2010), p.329.

Robert F Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon, Who’s who in contemporary gay and lesbian history: from World War II to the present day (Routledge: London: 2002), p. 214.

[ntulgbthist]

David Bowie

Born 1947, Fabio Cletus states he played a part in ‘ popularising a glamorous queer identity. Doing this, he created many persons through ‘ indulging in ambiguity cross-dressing and role play. Other historians from who who’s in contempary gay and lesbian history also agree with his identity, saying for every album he ‘created a new person that often included elements of gay, bisexual and lesbian identities’. His music and ambitious identity gave three LGBT community someone to look up to. 

Sources:

Robert F Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon, Who’s who in contemporary gay and lesbian history: from World War II to the present day (Routledge: London: 2002), p.50.

David A Gerstner, Routledge international encyclopaedia of queer culture (Routledge: London: 2010), p. 97.

[ntulgbthist]

Princess Diana was a known activist of HIV/AIDS. Mark Edwards states that her ‘involvement commenced relatively early in the day of the epidemic of the U.K.’ In 1987, she opened the first AIDS ward in the U.K. in Middlesex. She was filmed interacting with the patients, this created more awareness for the disease and decreased the taboo, she even disregarded royal etiquette by removing her gloves to shake their hands, creating this ‘royal approval’, again breaking down this taboo.

Source: Robert F Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon, Who’s who in contemporary gay and lesbian history: from World War II to the present day (Routledge: London: 2002), p. 110.

[ntulgbthist]

Secrecy and Privacy in Victorian Britain

Homosexuality was rarely spoken of in Victorian society. Unlike other European countries, newspapers, legislature and medical journals resisted speaking about the subject. 

In 1897, British sexologist, Havelock Ellis published Sexual Inversions, first volume in an intended series called Studies in the Psychology of Sex. He argues that homosexuality is not a disease but natural anomaly occurring throughout human and animal history and should be accepted, not treated. The book was banned in England for being obscene.

Individual lives of homosexuals were usually in the ‘context of society’.

Victorian homosexual men were usually discreet, ‘even in the privacy of their own diaries’.

Sources:

Lesley A. Hall, Sex, Gender and Social Change in Britain since 1880 (Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2000) 

[ntulgbthist]

Prostitution in Victorian Britain

Graham Robb says ‘homosexuality was inseparable from prostitution and crime’ in Victorian Britain. He talks about homosexuality in terms of prostitution and how in fact it was very common. 

20% of male prostitutes in Berlin during the 19th Century were homosexual and 20-25% were lesbian prostitutes. A lot of these female prostitutes slept with men purely for money. 1/4 of all female prostitutes were lesbian in 1836. 

It was more common to see homosexuality in prostitution than it was in normal relationships. ‘There were some straight bars where homosexual men were tolerated and could form their own clubs’.

Sources:

Graham Robb, Strangers; Homosexual love in the Nineteenth Century (Picador, London, 2003)

[ntulgbthist]

Gay Men and Women in Military (WWII)

Due to the need for every able-bodied person available, the American Government loosened its stance on homosexuality in World War II. At this point, although a secret policy, gay men and women were allowed to pursue relationships under the conditions that they were private, consensual and not disruptive to the unit. Furthermore, this provided networking opportunities for men and women trapped in small towns; Lisa Ben for instance had her own coming out experience after joining the W.A.C. (Women’s Army Corps), which changed her life so radically that she began writing the first lesbian newsletter in the United States, Vice-Versa. ——————————————————————— Alan Bérubé, ‘Marching to a Different Drunmer’, in Martin Bauml Duberman (ed.), Hidden From History; Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past, (Penguin Group: London, 1991), pp. 384-385. National Archives, File 333.9, Record Group No. 159, ‘Investigations of Conditions in the 3d WAC Training Center, Oglethorpe, Georgia’, 19 July 1944.

[ntulgbthist]

Alan Turing

Alan Turing (23 June 1912 - 7 June 1954) was a British mathematician and computer scientist who aided the decoding of the Enigma Machine during World War II. In spite of his contribution to the war, saving as many as 14 million lives and shortening the war by up to 2 years, Turing was charged for indecency with a man several years later and was sentenced to chemical castration. He later committed suicide days before his 42nd birthday. Since then, he has received post-humour pardon as well as inspired what has been called the, ‘Alan Turing Law’ which allowed for thousand of gay men to be pardoned since the change of homosexuality in the eyes of the law. ———————————————————————Jack Copeland ‘Alan Turing: the codebreaker who saved “millions of lives”’, BBC News Technology, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18419691 [accessed 24 January 2019] ‘Royal Pardon for Codebreaker Alan Turing’, BBC News Technology, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25495315, [accessed 24 January 2018] “‘Alan Turing Law”: Thousands of Gay men to be Pardonned’, BBC News, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-37711518, [accessed 24 January 2018

[ntulgbthist]

Laws and Punishment in Victorian Britain

In 1828, the Buggery Act was replaced with the Offences against the Person’s Act and buggery remained punishable by death.

Then in 1835, the last two men to be executed for buggery were arrested after being spied upon while having sex. 

Finally, in 1861, death penalty for buggery was abolished. Since 1806, 8921 men were prosecuted for buggery, 404 were sentenced to death and 56 were actually executed. But this did not mean that homosexuality was accepted. In 1866, Lord Penzance’s judgement began as he said “marriage as understood in Christendom’s the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others”.

In 1885, British Parliament enacted section 11 of Criminal Law Amendment Act, prohibiting gross indecency between males. It became possible to prosecute homosexuals for engaging in sexual acts where buggery or attempted buggery could not be proven.

In 1895, Oscar Wilde was tried for gross indecency over a relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas and was sentenced up to two years in prison with hard labour.