| Name |
Description |
| Ancient Greece |
In Ancient Greece homosexuality was widely accepted and it is the first recorded example of homosexuality. Sperm were seen to be the source of knowledge and so the mature erastes lovers would try to spread this knowledge on to the young eromenos and therefore provide them with the education to achieve in society. This homosexuality was strictly between an erastes and eromenos and may have been quite seperate from marriage, although Alexander the Great is suspected to have had a homosexual relationship with another erastes. |
| Judaism |
Biblical references, such as the teachings of Moses, were interpreted to oppose homosexuality. In the Book of Leviticus homosexuality is criticized and the punishment explained: "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination... If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." |
| Christianity |
Christian beliefs regarding homosexuality were based on the teachings of Moses and no reference was made in the Gospel. There was opposition of homosexuality from the Council of Jerusalem and St. Paul. |
| Renaissance |
Chaucer's Pardoner appears to be an example of homosexuality during this period. In The Canterbury Tales Chaucer writes, "I trowe he were a geldyng or a mare." |
| 19th Century |
Poet 6th Baron Byron was claimed to have loved a choir boy; Irish nationalist playwright Oscar Wilde was publicly shamed for homosexual practices; Socialist poet Edward Carpenter was an activist for homosexual rights. |
| Nazi Germany |
After the activism of Magnus Hirschfeld, gay rights in Germany were well above those of most other parts of the world. The Nazis opposed homosexuality as it could not produce a master race, but Chief of Staff, Ernst Röhm, was a homosexual. |