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Gay unions accepted as routine in cultures for centuries
Salt Lake City Tribune ^
| Feb 29, 2004
| Will Bagley
Posted on 03/01/2004 12:46:27 PM PST by george wythe
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To: george wythe
The Victorians turned it into an identity, but same-sex sex has been going on since time immemorial and was considered entirely natural in ancient Greece and Rome. Yes, and where are those cultures now? Can anyone say "decline?"
2
posted on
03/01/2004 12:50:08 PM PST
by
StarCMC
(God protect the 969th in Iraq and their Captain, my brother...God protect them all!)
To: george wythe
"Many cultures"? And they all seem to be Amerindians. Which is to say, stone age peoples.
Yeah, we should be like that.
3
posted on
03/01/2004 12:54:04 PM PST
by
ClearCase_guy
(You can see it coming like a train on a track.)
To: george wythe
This guy is deliberately misreading Richard Wilkins. Even polygamous marriages are about the sexual union of man and woman.
To: george wythe
The Greco-Roman culture viewed same-sex relations much the same way that we today do heavy drinking - something to laugh at from abroad, but hardly something to actively promote. It never once occurred to them to marry a man to a man or a woman to a woman because it was understood that marriage was an institution designed for heterosexuals.
I also very much doubt that many ancient cultures that tolerated homosexuality had anything resembling that the rather peculiar subculture that has grown up in the last 100 years or so that we today refer to as "gay." Even in Greco-Roman times it was understood that those who engaged in such relations would eventually go on into heterosexual relationship and marriages.
To: george wythe
![](http://www.castroonline.com/postcards/images/large/jimlg/sisters107-15.jpg)
We're mainstream!
Really!
6
posted on
03/01/2004 12:56:14 PM PST
by
billorites
(freepo ergo sum)
To: george wythe
American Indian languages had a variety of terms -- winkte (Lakota) Winkte?
I don't think one needs to be a Lakota Sioux to understand that that term sounds pretty gay.
7
posted on
03/01/2004 12:57:42 PM PST
by
Michael.SF.
('After all, Jesus was born to a homeless couple' - Hillary Clinton (paraphrased))
To: StarCMC
Yes, and where are those cultures now? Can anyone say "decline?"Unfortunately for the "homosexuality caused the decline" of these cultures theory, the greatest popularity of homosexuality coincided quite nicely with the greatest period for each. Their decline actually concided with a return to more "traditional" morality.
Personally, I can find lots of other, entirely historical reasons for being opposed to these practices.
8
posted on
03/01/2004 12:57:43 PM PST
by
Restorer
Since it's been a while since I took any anthropology class, I googled the term "berdache" and found this picture:
![](http://members.aol.com/matrixwerx/glbthistory/zuni.jpg)
It comes from this article:
Over 130 different Native American tribes had a special category of men who wore women's clothing, spent their time doing "women's work" such as basket weaving and pottery, and held a sacred, spiritual role in the tribe. Berdaches had sex with other men, and marriages between a berdache and another man were common. Sometimes in a polygamous marriage, a berdache became a secondary "wife" to a male who was already married to one or more women.
American Heritage Dictionary defines
berdache:
Among certain Native American peoples, a person, usually a male, who assumes the gender identity and is granted the social status of the opposite sex.
To: george wythe
You mean after all this time we now know it wasn't the white man's fault! The Indians screwed themselves?
10
posted on
03/01/2004 1:01:52 PM PST
by
whereasandsoforth
(tagged for migratory purposes only)
To: Angelus Errare
Even in Greco-Roman times it was understood that those who engaged in such relations would eventually go on into heterosexual relationship and marriagesJust like the Arabs?
I've read many reports from Westerners about homosexual sex being common in Arab countries, but men always end up getting married in order to continue the family name.
To: Restorer
Sorry - don't buy it. It takes a while for those things to affect the standing of the country. Doesn't happen overnight.
12
posted on
03/01/2004 1:02:26 PM PST
by
StarCMC
(God protect the 969th in Iraq and their Captain, my brother...God protect them all!)
To: george wythe
First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill didn't actually say "the only traditions of the Royal Navy are rum, sodomy and the lash," but he may have wished he had. What is that doing in the middle of this poorly-written piece? Bizarre. This author wrote this late at night after 3 glasses of merlot.
13
posted on
03/01/2004 1:03:14 PM PST
by
Theo
To: billorites
hy is this called hate speech. It offends Catholics
To: george wythe
"Historian Will Bagley is happily 'married'."
To what?
15
posted on
03/01/2004 1:05:27 PM PST
by
Redcoat LI
("If you're going to shoot,shoot,don't talk" Tuco BenedictoPacifico Juan Maria Ramirez)
To: lady lawyer
Even polygamous marriages are about the sexual union of man and woman. Do you happen to know what happened to Brigham Young's marriages according to Mormon theology after he died?
Is Brigham Young still in a polygamist marriage to his 56 wives, or is he united to only one of them in the Mormon afterlife?
To: george wythe
It is false that the ancient Greeks considered homos "normal." Man/boy relationships were certainly more complex than today but when a man refused marriage and children and became the passive partner in homo relations, they were scourned, ridiculed or worse. That role was acceptable for a boy but not a man.
Read what Plato said about such relations in "The Laws" it ain't pleasant. Much of the homo relations refered to in Greece were not of the carnal nature hence the term "platonic." In addition, any sexual relations were not of the type favored by modern queers.
17
posted on
03/01/2004 1:07:50 PM PST
by
justshutupandtakeit
(America's Enemies foreign and domestic agree: Bush must be destroyed.)
To: george wythe
...Historian Will Bagley is happily married.To whom? Or should I say to what? A man? A goat? A (gasp) woman?
As a happily married woman whose husband happens to be a MAN, I think the idea of polygamy stinks. It seemed to cause a lot more problems in the Old Testament and is still causing more than a few in this day and age. If homosexuals are allowed to marry, polygamists wanting their right to the pursuit of happiness can't be far behind. What's to stop this from happening? Ugh.
I'm sure a few FReeper guys think this might be a great idea. Think again, guys. Each of your wives will have their very own charge accounts and will play a game of musical PMS every month. :)
18
posted on
03/01/2004 1:08:09 PM PST
by
demnomo
To: george wythe
I'm uncertain - certainly a number of younger al-Qaeda jihadis have turned out to have been molested by their superiors in the Afghan camps and a number of the Pakistani madrassa chiefs are evidently pedophiles, but I'm wary about judging cultural attitudes on a particular subject on the basis of members of a terrorist organization.
I do know from my own reading that the Qur'an that homosexual relations are condemned there in no uncertain terms as well as that all Muslim countries maintain anti-sodomy laws. The Malaysian deputy prime minister was actually sacked on the trumped-up allegation that he engaged in such practices. But no honest clue as to just how common these things are.
To: demnomo
To whom? Or should I say to what? A man? A goat? A (gasp) woman? LOL! All I know is that he lives in Utah.
Which kind of marriages are common in Utah?
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