Homosexual history

Justinian (529) - Roman emperor assumed the throne in 527. - He decreed in 529 that persons who engaged in homosexual sex were to be executed. - He believed that homosexual activity was one of the main causes of earthquakes. First new world lesbian conviction - The laws governing sexual morality were harsher in Puritan New England than in the mother country, where such laws were applied to male sexuality and sodomity. Marie Antoinette (1789) - In 1775, Marie Antoinette was twenty and had been queen of a year, and a series of pamphlets by anti-royalists outlined her affairs and her lesbianism. She had only contempt for public opinion and did not care. Karl Maria Kertbeny (1869) - First recorded use of the term homosexuality. - Campaigner for the abolition of Prussias laws on sex between men. - *invert was the term used to describe same-sex relationships at that time - The sodomite had been a temporary aberration, the homosexual was now a species. - He had a close friend who was homosexual, who killed himself after being black-mailed by an extortionist. This tragic episode led him to taking a close interest in the subject of homosexuality, instinctive drive to take issue with every injustice - He put forward the view that homosexuality was inborn and unchangeable 1889 Cleveland Street Scandal - A brothel for homosexual males was discovered in Cleveland Street, London. - An amendment to the Criminal Act of 1885 and had made illegal gross indecency this meant that sexual contact between men, whether in private or public was punishable by two years of prison with or without hard labour. The institute for sexual science (1919) - Founded by Magnus Hirschfield, located in Berlin - It aimed to undertake research to defend the rights of homosexuals, also to repeal the section of the German penal code that criminalised homosexuality.

The Green Carnation Robert Hichens 2006