Religion and the Invention of Homophobia
So I'm writing this History paper on the differences between Lesbianism and Male Homosexuality during the Middle Ages and I came across an interesting tidbit.
The early branches of the Catholic church are almost entirely responsible for the existence of homphobia. It had thrived in the ancient times of the Romans and Greeks and same-sex unions were even permitted in many cases.
Enter Catholics, they made homosexuality less and less popular by passing legislature which allowed homosexuals to be burned at the stake, have their genitals tied to a pole and exiled.
The ironic part to me though is that many debates are held about whether the Bible contains homosexual themes. Of course, the Bible is an all-encompassing book right?
Any thoughts? If you're interested in reading more about the history of homophobia, I would highly recommend Homophobia: A History by Byrne Fone. It's quite comprehensive.
posted by Anonymous @ Tuesday, January 24, 2006
2 Comments:
well there are some catholics who claim that its not really that the church hates gay people (maybe not so much now but still theres the whole burning thing) but that they are just against any type of sexual act that isnt used for making a baby. So really thats why there against masturbation and homosexuality and stuff but even i think that thats over the line
…Well, the Bible does say homosexuality is punishable by death…
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