In the 1970s Michel Foucault wrote these lines that have influenced the discussion of same-sex love and culture ever since, with many accepting today the notion that same-sex lovers and gender-variant people did not begin to self-identify as a sub-group of the wider culture until the late 19th century: “Homosexuality appeared as one of theContinue reading “On Homosexuality”
Tag Archives: gay history
Men Love Mutual Masturbation
When I came to London aged 21 in 1986 I discovered that men cruised for sex in public toilets across the city. From Wood Green, Highbury, Finsbury Park to Clapham, Brixton and Balham, via Hyde Park Corner, Green Park, Oxford Circus and Soho I discovered men were lining up against the porcelain and masturbating together.Continue reading “Men Love Mutual Masturbation”
The Meaning of QUEER
“Queer is a continuing moment, movement, motive – recurrent, eddying, troublant. The word ‘queer’ itself means across – it comes from the Indo-European root – twerkw, which also yields the German quer (traverse), Latin torquere (to twist), English athwart. . . . Keenly, it is relational and strange.” Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (1950-2009) “The soft-spoken queenContinue reading “The Meaning of QUEER”
A 1906 Book about Gay Sexuality
Edward Westermarck’s 1906 book The Origin and Development of Moral Ideas included a chapter presenting the world with an overview of the occurrence of homosexuality and gender fluidity around the world, showing their frequent association with the spiritual aspects of communal life, and their widespread acceptance in pre-Christian cultures as natural parts of God’s creation.Continue reading “A 1906 Book about Gay Sexuality”
THE GAY PERSECUTION OF THE 520s
1500 years ago in the Byzantine Roman Empire the Emperor Justinian enacted a persecution against gay men that created a climate of fear which has echoed down the centuries to this very day. This pogrom of same sex lovers ended a millennium in which men who love men had been prominent in every aspect ofContinue reading “THE GAY PERSECUTION OF THE 520s”
Queer History – Queer Destiny
When we look at the past it is always through a coloured lens. Historians have always tended to reflect the values of the ruling elite of the time and record history from that viewpoint. Translators of ancient texts have always hidden things in order to not offend the currently dominating, acceptable morality of the time.Continue reading “Queer History – Queer Destiny”
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