Currently, the homosexual issue is gaining a lot of space. On TV, in courtrooms, in large outdoor parades and in day-to-day conversations, the figure of the homosexual is no longer a speculation to knock on the door of each and every individual in our society. Many even question whether they really make up a “minority group” in contemporary society.
Today, we are used to culturally establishing a set of ideas about homosexuals that, many times, tend towards the field of prejudices. Controversies aside, has this type of sexual behavior always been the subject of so much controversy? Often, our imagination prevents us from trying to admit other types of perspective on this topic.
Going back to ancient times, we could come across a very peculiar vision when we notice that affection and sexual practice were not distinguished in that period. Sexual relations were not hierarchical through a distinction of those who practice it, opting for homosexual or heterosexual habits. In Greece, for example, same-sex involvement in certain cases even had a pedagogical function.
In the city-state of Athens, philosophers placed sexual involvement with their apprentices as an important instrument through which the affective and intellectual affinities of both were narrowed. Between the ages of 12 and 18, the apprentice had relations with his tutor, as long as he and the boy's parents consented to such an act. In Rome, however, there were distinctions where pederasty was regarded with good eyes, while the passivity of an older partner was a reason for disapproval.
With the assimilation of the strictly procreative value of sex, disseminated by Jewish culture, the conception of the homosexual act gained new features. The popularization of Christianity brought with it the idea that sex between equals would be a sin. Thus, since the end of the Roman Empire, various actions by kings and clergy tried to suppress homosexuality. Yet – throughout the Modern Age – we have had several reports of representatives of the nobility having affairs with partners of the same sex.
In the 19th century, with the effervescence of biological theories and the rise of reason as absolute truth, theories wanted to give a scientific explanation for homosexuality. In the 20th century, brain lobotomy was declared as a surgical solution for wanting to “get rid” of the habit. In the same period, several groups fought for the end of discrimination and the abolition of the scientific classification that designates homosexuality as a disease.
Even though the topic still causes a lot of prejudice and raises taboo among people, we must realize that sexual identity cannot be seen as a given to be controlled by someone or by some institution. Before any justification, whether against or in favor of homosexuals, we must place respect for the other as the highest principle of this issue.