Although queer identities have a long, colorful history, the hyper-sexualization and discrimination the community faces today are not new. In many societies, historically, they have often outweighed acceptance. Social expectations of gender identity and sexuality were intertwined with other constructs like patriarchy, wealth, religion, race, occupation and colonialism.
For example, in ancient Greece and Rome, the tolerance of homosexuality was closely linked with gender roles and social class. Due to the patriarchal structure of Greco-Roman society, there was much stigma towards relationships between two adult men (although an adult male with a boy or slave was acceptable), as it was seen as being “unmanly” and violating the social hierarchy of male dominance.
Roman men who engaged in same-sex relations were accepted so long as they took on the dominant role, while the man who took on the passive role was viewed as effeminate and inferior.
The establishment of Christianity as Rome’s official religion marked a turning point, as its moral values—including the condemnation of male homosexuality—spread across Europe into the Middle Ages. Sodomy was criminalized and became subject to capital punishment.
Queer people were viewed as heretics or witches, with trials being targeted towards gender nonconformity. A famous example of this is Joan of Arc, who was persecuted for claiming divine guidance and wearing men’s clothing, both of which were seen as undermining the power of the church.
When the Age of Exploration began, European colonizers brought their religion, laws and culture to the Americas, including their views regarding gender and sexuality. Native American Two-Spirit people were forced into binary gender roles, and indigenous gender diversity was erased.
The European law code didn’t have any specific distinctions between gender nonconformity and same-sex relations, so both were prosecuted under the accusation of sodomy. Queer enslaved people were punished doubly, and any defiance of traditional gender roles and sexuality was framed as “rebellion.”
During the Enlightenment in Europe, authorities would forcibly inspect intersex and trans people’s genitals to assign them a legal gender. By the 19th century, trans women were criminalized for “gross indecency” and “impersonating women,” along with homosexuality being framed as “corrupting youth.”
Gender nonconformity and homosexuality were conflated and diagnosed as a mental illness; conversion therapy emerged to “cure” queer people, with early forms including ice baths and electroshock. Britain’s criminalization of sodomy was imposed globally across its many colonies, and in the United States, laws were passed that allowed for the arrest of trans and cross-dressing individuals.
