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LGBT
Queer spirituality & history
10 entries · 3 sections
The Ancient World
The systematic persecution of LGBT people simply did not exist until comparatively recently in world history. LGBT people played important roles at all levels of classical Greek and Roman society. Alexander the Great is well-known to have been bisexual. The Emperor Hadrian attempted to deify his male life-companion, Antinous. In Greek mythology, we have the myth of Tiresias, who changed his gender from male to female and back; Zeus, among his other loves, took Ganymede; the nymph Hermaphrodite was transformed from a woman into an intersex being.
Other Texts
Modern Texts
A Problem in Modern EthicsJohn Addington Symonds, 1896 — One of the first sympathetic essays on gay rights written in the modern epoch.A Problem in Greek EthicsJohn Addington Symonds, 1901 — A study of Greek homosexuality. from the romantic and the erotic point of viewLove's Coming of AgeEdward Carpenter, 1906 — A essay arguing a comprehensive vision of sexual liberation based on expansion of gender roles and women's liberation.Intermediate Types Among Primitive FolkEdward Carpenter, 1914 — Carpenter reviews the extensive literature of homosexuality in the ancient world, relating it to anthopological reportsIoläusEdward Carpenter, 1918 — An anthology of literary quotes about (primarily) male friendship, from David and Jonathan to Walt Whitman, particularly those verging on romantic love