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Keywords:: Isocrat.org, History, Same-Sex Marriage, Gay Marriage | ||||||||
This article will look at the historical accounts of marriage for gay couples.
Contents:
1. Roman Empire: It seems marriage was determined by affectio maritalis (intention to be married). The State did not decide marriages unless there was a problem. The rights for those living in a house were spelled out in contract, or by status as property (children and slaves). If a family split up, a judge would have to determine if they lived as married by collecting evidence, and what (or who) contractually belonged to whom.
Furthermore, a gay Roman could bring others under his roof as family, and grown men were “adopted” with the privileges of a family heir. Official marriage for gay couples basically seems unnecessary in many cultures that tolerated homosexuality, as they did not have issues like health insurance to fret about, and had other workable solutions. A homosexual could simply marry in their own way, live in the same home, which made them family, and work the rest out by agreement, like the rest of the population.
I can find some accounts online of official same sex unions being performed by some religious sects of Rome, but they aren't in references I've yet been able to verify.
Nevertheless, Constantine converted and the tide began to turn against gays (discussed here). When Constantine’s sons took the helm, they implemented edicts giving “exquisite punishment” to the “passive” homosexual in a union only, in 342 AD (1):
“When a man marries as a woman who offers yourself to man, what does he wish, when sex has lost its significance; when the crime is one which is not profitable to know; when Venus is changed into another form; when love is sought and not found? We order the statutes to arise, a lot of the armed with an avenging sword, but those infamous persons who are now, or who hereafter may be guilty may be subjected to exquisite punishment.”
Note the familiar mischaracterization of gay unions. While it seems it took a while to get such laws enforced and to get the public behind them, eventually “exquisite punishment” was realized, and for all those caught in a gay relationship (2, 3, 4) .
2. Portugal and Spain. This event occurred in a Portuguese immigrant region of Rome (1) :
Venetian Ambassador Antonio Tiepolo reports (Rome 1578):
“Eleven Portuguese and Spaniards have been captured. They had assembled into Church near St. John Lateran where they had performed some ceremonies of horrible wickedness which sullied the sacred name of matrimony, marrying each other and being joined together as husband and wife. 27 or more, it is said, were discovered altogether on other occasions, but this time they were not able to capture more than this eleven, who were given to the fire as they deserved.”
It’s important to note this clearly hostile ambassador says gay men were “marrying” each other, in 1578. Of course he did not like it, but they were doing it. I think it’s also important to note these homosexuals seemed to feel a religious blessing, presumably Christian in nature due to the chosen location, was valuable to their union, worth risking their lives over. To my mind, that could suggest some sort of greater organization in their immigrant community, but, when the ceremony alone meant burning to death, it would be hard to find such expressed openly, and so who knows?
3. France: j of mod hist 2007 79(3) 613-647
4. China: it seems they created a separate institution for gay men. They were called nanfeng, meaning the “Southern Custom” (The term is a pun, as “nan” means man as well). Homosexual men would still marry women, so that Confucian duties would be accomplished, but their partners had some of the benefits of a married wife (if not better).
Consider this account by Shen Defu (1578-1642):
“The Fujianese men are extremely fond of male beauty. No matter how rich or poor, handsome or ugly, they all find a companion of their own status. Between the two the older is called the "bond elder brother" (qixiong), the youngest "bond younger brother" (qidi). When the elder brother goes to the house of the younger brother, the parents of the latter take care of him and love him like a son-in-law. And the younger brother’s expenses, including those of his marriage are all covered by the elder brother. They love each other and at the age of 30 are still sleeping in the same bed together like husband and wife….Such passions can be so deep that it is not uncommon that two lovers, finding it impossible to continue their relationship, tie themselves up together and drown themselves.”
So these couples are still pressured to marry women here and it seems there can be conflicts by which the gay union would be severed. But they’re also given access to another marriage-like institution of a different name (of course, the union between a man and a woman was not called “marriage” either in 16th century China, if you’re the type terribly concerned with the word). Still, Shen recognizes it as very much like marriage (For those who need stronger evidence for homosexuality than sleeping together and strong passion between men, there is art from the period that shows some sexual interaction).
5. Egypt: In 1969 an Old Kingdom tomb, dated to around 2400 BC, was discovered in the necropolis of Saqqara. It was unique in that it was the joint-tomb of two men, Niankhkhnum (Khnum has life) and Khnumhotep (Khnum is satisfied).
Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep in an embrace, circa 2400 BCE.The walls of the tomb contained multiple depictions of them in intimate embraces (a photo tour may be found here). Among the artwork is an inscription of their names joined as one into what archaeologists have theorized is a wordplay meaning "joined in life, joined in peace (or death)".
There does exists some skepticism as to whether these men were lovers, due to the fact that they are said to have wives (though neither of which are depicted with them) and are depicted with children. Regardless, production of offspring was expected of gay couples by many ancient civilizations which would otherwise accommodate and recognize its gay members and relationships.
If any doubt remains, one need only look to stereotypes and the job title of the two men, which they shared, as "The Overseers of the Manicurists in the Palace of the King."
If this tomb is indeed the tomb of a gay couple, its existence, along with the social structure necessary to build it should suggest some sort of social recognition of gay unions in ancient Egypt.
6. The Americas: In the new world there was a surprise waiting for the white man, and a far worse surprise waiting for the natives, particularly those who were GLB or T. Hernan Cortes (1485-1547 AD) reported to Charls V "we have learnt and been informed for sure that they [Vera Cruz natives] are all sodomites..." Certainly an exaggeration, but pottery backs him up in part. Nuno de Guzman, another conquistador, reported about a man captured in battle (5) :
“[he] fought most courageously, was a man in the habit of a woman, which confessed that from a child he had gotten his living by that filthiness, which I caused him to burn.”
It does not seem such conquerors got close enough to the locals to chat about their families; I doubt it mattered much to them. But Cabeze de Vaca, a Spanish explorer in the 1540s, reported regarding the inhabitants of an island off the coast of Texas, “In the time I was thus among these people, I saw a diabolical thing and it is that I saw a man married to another.”
"Balboa Throws the Indians Who Have Committed the Abominable Crime of Sodomy to be Torn to Bits by Dogs." Theodore de Bry, Engraving for America, 1590.
In what is now Santa Barbara California, there’s a report even of a native convert to Catholicism, who, while living in the mission brought his husband to live with him. The head of the mission became suspicious and, along with a couple soldiers, entered their room to find them “in the act of committing the nefarious sin.” The male convert defended himself by saying they were married… I know; does not sound like it’d go over too well as an excuse, but what innocence. Nevertheless, they were only “mildly” punished.
The missionary noted that each tribe had about two or three of such couples but “we place our trust in God and expect that these accused people will disappear with the growth of the missions. The abominable vice will be eliminated to the extent that the Catholic faith and all other virtues are firmly implanted there.” I’d bet the guy would be quite upset to know gay couples are being joined, at least in civil unions, in his very area.
We can find accounts of the rarer cases of lesbian unions South America. Pedro de Magalhales, a Portuguese explorer traveling through Brazil in the 16th century remarks on a group of female warriors in an encountered tribe:
“They wear the hair cut in the same way as men, and go to war with bows and arrows and pursue game, always in the company of men… Each has a woman to server her, to whom she says she is married; and they treat each other and speak with each other as man and wife.”
Other than that, the Mohave had hwame, females who would do a bit of both male and female work. They would be expected to take a woman as a wife, and, if that woman had children, the hwame would become their parent as well.
There is also the case of "Woman Chief". Edwin T. Denig, a Caucasian who lived with the crow and knew her for 12 years described her as always perusing “manly accomplishments.” She was adopted into the Crow tribe at a young age and she eventually took responsibility for her foster father’s lodge and family, as a bit of a war hero. She eventually took three wives, and was killed in a “peacemaking expedition” to another tribe.
George Catlin (1796-1872), Dance to the Berdache
In the Americas it’s important to note a couple things about these unions. Typically one partner in a male-male union was expected to take on a feminine role. Though there certainly are some exceptions in their recorded activities, such as the account of Osh-Tish, a renowned warrior as well as a bade, or so-called berdache or “two-spirit” person. These “two-spirit” tribe members are argued to be more like our modern “queens”: effeminate, artsy, ambiguously gendered, and so on; you know the stereotype. While merely tolerated in some tribes, many revered them as spiritually gifted and great matchmakers, bridging male and female worlds. There typically though was no special name or social standing for their spouses. Men could take a berdache as a spouse or, where polygamy was practiced, men could have women and these men as their spouses. I’d take it the men marrying the berdache are those we’d most closely refer to as gay or bisexual in our day. Regardless, it’s difficult to apply modern vocabulary to such a different time and culture.
In the end in the Americas, it seems, near all of that tradition was wiped out, by violence or subtler forms of coercion, such as religious threat and indoctrination through boarding schools.
If anyone has other accounts of same sex couples marrying in history (those that may be verified in a scholarly publication), please send them our way; we would love to know of and add them.
REFERENCES ::
1. Crompton, L.. Homosexuality and Civilization. The Belknap Press, Cambridge. (2003).
2. Skaletsky, H.; Kuroda-Kawaguchi, T.; Minx Pj; Cordum, H.; Hillier, L.; Brown, L.; Repping, S.; Pyntikova, T.; Ali, J.; Bieri, T.; Chinwalla, A.; Delehaunty, A.; Delehaunty, K.; Du, H.; Fewell, G.; Fulton, L.; Fulton, R.; Graves, T.; Hou, S.; Latrielle, P.. The Male-Specific Region of the Human Y Chromosome Is a Mosaic of Discrete Sequence Classes. Nature. vol. 423, pp. 825-837, (2003).
3. Vincent, A.; Deacon, R.; Dalton, P.; Salmond, C.; Blamire, A.; Pendlebury, S.; Johansen-Berg, H.; Rajogopalan, B.; Styles, P.; Stein, J.. Maternal Antibody-Mediated Dyslexia? Evidence for a Pathogenic Serum Factor in a Mother of Two Dyslexic Children Shown by Transfer to Mice Using Behavioral Studies and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. Journal of Neuroimmunology. vol. 130, pp. 243-247, (2002).
4. Dalton, P.; Deacon, R.; Blamire, A.; Pike, M.; Mckinlay, I.; Stein, J.; Styles, P.; Vincent, A.. Maternal Neuronal Antibodies Associated with Autism and a Language Disorder. Annals of Neurology. vol. 53 (4), pp. 533-537, (2003).
5. Miller, N.. Out of the Past. Alyson Books, New York. (2006).
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isocrat > history > marriage > gay_marriage_hist
Created: 2007-01-01; Last Edited: 2008-04-04; (ID138)