Overview of Homosexuality
The modern gay rights movement began in 1969.
Homosexuality has been a feature of humanity and culture since early history.
It was popularized by the ancient Greeks, where erotic attraction and sexual pleasure between males was considered an ingrained, accepted part of culture. Certain sexual activities, like anal sex in some cultures and oral sex in other cultures, are considered taboo. In other cultures, especially Christian subcultures have viewed sodomy as a crime against nature; however, the condemnation of penetrative sex between males predates Christianity and the theme of “crime against nature” was traceable to Plato.
In the last two decades of the nineteenth century, a different viewpoint of homosexuality began to emerge and to predominate medical and psychiatric circles, many of whom labeled such behavior as a type of a person with a defined and stable sexual orientation.
The modern gay rights movement began in 1969. Seen by some as a type of pathology or mental illness to be cured, homosexuality is not more often investigated as being a part of the biology, psychology, genetics, history, politics and cultural aspects of what it means to be human.
The legal and social status of those who identify themselves as gay or lesbian varies significantly across the world and it remains a hotly contested religious and political debate.
See also