5th millennium BC - Examples of homosexual eroticism inUpper Paleolithic orMesolithic European art inSicily. InAddaura incision is a group of people dancing around two men, both with erections, possibly indicating a homoerotic ritual.[1][2]
530 BC – One of the earliest examples of Etruscan art on homosexuality, found in 1892 in theNecropolis of Monterozzi nearTarquinia. The painting, situated in what has been called theTomb of the Bulls (Italian:Tomba dei Tori), depicts on the right a bull with a man's face (Acheloos) and an erect phallus that is aggressively approaching two men having sexual intercourse. On the left, another bull is turned around, as though indifferent, in front of men and women having sexual intercourse. The women are consistently depicted in light tones, while the men are brown. Under the frieze isAchilles (on the left) waylayingTroilus. This representation is the only one in archaic Tarquinianparietal painting representing a scene derived from Greek mythology; it used the legend about thebisexuality of Achilles to demonstrate that, among the Greeks, same-sex love was a common and ordinary fact. This shows how, even then, homosexuality could be a worthwhile topic in the conflict between populations. Below is the tree of life, full of leaves, linked by the sash of life with the skeletal tree of death, with the black festoon of death hanging from a branch. Theonomastic inscription in the centre of the upper frieze names he who probably was the owner of the tomb: Aranth Suprianas.
470 BC – An important example is the "Tomb of the Diver" inPaestum, in particular the painted scene of the Symposium.
509 BC – TheRoman Republic is founded. Homosexuality, as in Greece, is widespread and legalized throughout the Roman heyday, from the Republic to the Empire (seeHomosexuality in ancient Rome).
149 BC – TheLex Scantinia, a Roman law, regulates homosexuality for the first time on record. According to the law, homosexuality should be denied between freeborn adult males and for the youth of noble families not to participate in male prostitution. It is also probable that such a law was meant to prevent the possibility of a noble-born man becoming subject to sodomy by a slave.[3]
100 BC – 100 AD – Found in theTerme suburbane ofPompei is the only representation of alesbian scene surviving from the Roman era, and also a fresco of triple intercourse between men.
57 BC – 54 BC –Catullus writes theCarmina, including love poems to Giovenzio, boasting of sexual prowess with youth and including violent invective against passive sodomites.
42 BC – 39 BC –Virgil writes theEclogæ vel Bucolica, with many references to homosexual love and relationship.
27 BC – The Roman Empire begins with the reign ofAugustus. The first recordedsame-sex marriages occur during this period.[5]
26, 25, and 18 BC –Tibullus writes theCarmina, with references to homosexuality.
Romans, like Greeks, tolerated love and sex among men. Two Roman Emperors publicly married men, some had gay lovers themselves, and homosexual prostitution was taxed. However, like the Greeks, passivity and effeminacy were not tolerated, and an adult male freeborn Roman could lose his citizen status if caught performing fellatio or being penetrated.[6]
Bus of Elagabalus - Palazzo Nuovo - Musei Capitolini - Rome 2016. The 3rd century Roman emperorElegabalus is viewed by some historians as an early transgender figure.
8 – Female same-sex desire is described as something strange and unnatural inOvid'sMetamorphoses, in the tale of Iphis and Ianthe."So, birds mate, and among all animals, not one female is attacked by lust for a female. I wish I were not one!" says Iphis of her desire for Ianthe.[7]
86-93 – The Roman poetMartial satirizes lesbians and his own mystification about lesbianism in hisEpigrams. "Only the Sphinx could interpret this riddle right: that where there is no man, there is adultery."[7]
98 –Trajan, one of the most beloved of Roman emperors, begins his reign. Trajan was well known for his homosexuality and fondness for young males. This was used to advantage by the king ofEdessa,Abgar VII, who, after incurring the anger of Trajan for some misdeed, sent his handsome young son to make his apologies, thereby obtaining pardon.[9]
165 – Christian martyrGiustino writes: "We have learned that is an evil thing to show newborns, since we see that almost everyone, not only the girls but boys too, are forced into prostitution".[10]
218 – The emperorElagabalus's reign begins. At different times, Elagabalus marries five women and a man named Zoticus, an athlete fromSmyrna, in a lavish public ceremony at Rome;[11] but the Syrian's most stable relationship is with the chariot driver Hierocles, and Cassius Dio says Elagabalus delighted in being called Hierocles' mistress, wife, and queen.[12] The emperor wears makeup and wigs, prefers to be called a lady and not a lord, and offers vast sums to any physician who can provide him with a vagina;[12][13] for this reason, the emperor is seen by some writers as an early transgender figure and one of the first on record as seekingsex reassignment surgery.[12][13][14][15]
342 – The first law against pretended same-sex marriage was promulgated by the Christian emperorsConstantius II andConstans.[16]
390 – In the year 390, the Christian emperorsValentinian II,Theodosius I andArcadius declared homosexual sex to be illegal and those who were guilty of it were condemned to beburned alive in front of the public.[17]
Justinian I'sJustinian Code, which influenced the persecuted status of homosexuals in Europe from 529AD until theNapoleonic era, was satirized in 1911 by the artist A Radokov.
498 – In spite of the laws against gay sex, the Christian emperors continued to collect taxes on male prostitutes until the reign ofAnastasius I, who finally abolishes the tax in favor of sampling of the best men.[18]
529 – The Christian emperorJustinian I (527–565) makes homosexuals ascapegoat for problems such as "famines,earthquakes, and pestilences."[19] TheJustinian code is the first time active as well as passive homosexuals are punished; prominent religious leaders are castrated, tortured, dragged through the streets, and executed. This code shapes the status of homosexuals in Europe for the next several hundred years, until theNapoleonic Era.[20]
1051 –Peter Damian writes the treatiseLiber Gomorrhianus, in which he argues for stricter punishments for clerics failing their duty against "vices of nature."[21]
1140 – The Italian MonkGratian compiles his workDecretum Gratiani, in which he argues that male homosexual acts are the worst of all the sexual sins because they involve using the male member in an unnatural way.[6]
1250–1300 – Homosexual activity radically passes from being completely legal in the most of Europe to incurring the death penalty in most European states.[22]
1265 –Thomas Aquinas argues that sodomy is second only to murder in the ranking of sins.[6]
1287 – Niger de Pulis is burned at the stake inParma (then part of theHoly Roman Empire), becoming the first person in modern-day Italy to be executed for sodomy.[23]
Dante andVirgil interview male homosexuals, from Guido da Pisa's commentary on theCommedia, c. 1345
1321 –Dante'sInferno places male homosexuals in the Seventh Circle.
1345 – Guido da Pisa writes a commentary onDivine Commedia, in which an illustration depicts Dante, Virgil, and homosexuals.
1347 –Rolandino Roncaglia is put on trial for homosexuality, an event that caused a sensation in Italy. He confessed he "had not ever had sexual intercourses neither with his wife nor with any other woman because he didn't ever feel any carnal appetite, nor could he ever have an erection of his virile member". After his wife died of plague, Rolandino started to prostitute himself,wearing female dresses because "since he has a female look, voice and movements – although he hasn't the female orifice but has a male member and testicles – many persons considered him to be a woman because of his appearance".[24]
1476 –Florentine court records of 1476 show thatLeonardo da Vinci and three other young men were charged withsodomy, and acquitted.[25] During the 15th century, Florence has a reputation abroad as "the capital of the sodomites" and the majority of men in the city are "at least once during their lifetimes officially incriminated for engaging in homosexual relations", according to historian Michael Rocke.[26]
16th century – Male prostitutes in theRepublic of Venice develop thegnaga mask in order to practice homosexual prostitution without fear of punishment.[27]
1512 – RenownedSienese painter Giovanni Antonio Bazzi is nicknamedIl Sodoma ('The Sodomite') because of his homosexual activities. Bacciembraces the name and writes verses about it.[28]
1500s – Same-sex desire between women is mentioned in several late 16th century romantic comedies ofItalian Renaissance theater, usually in the context of one or more characters secretly cross-dressing as the opposite sex. "I am not the first person who has loved a woman", says "the female Cesare" in the play Alessandro. "Histories, ancient and modern, are full of accounts which have reinforced this fire that consumes me".[31]
1578 – A community of men who performed same-sex marriages with one another is discovered inSan Giovanni in Porta Latina basilica in Rome. Eight men are hanged and their bodies burned as a result. A later episode of same sex marriage involving clergymen is discovered in Naples.[32]
1620s – Lesbian nunBenedetta Carlini, theabbess of the Convent of the Mother of God inPescia, shares her cell with Sister Bartolomea. When the two nunsmake love, Sister Benedettaexperiencesmystical visions and angelic possession. The ecclesiastic forces of theCounter-Reformation investigate her mystical experiences and, upon discovering her lesbian sexuality, strip her of her position as abbess and hold her under guard for the remainder of her life.
1755 – Gay art historianJohann Joachim Winckelmann comes to Rome and spends the rest of his life in Italy, where he earns the admiration of his intellectual contemporaries such asGoethe andHerder for his masterful studies of ancient Roman art, replete with loving descriptions of the homoeroticism found therein.[33]
1771 – Amonk is burned at the stake in theRepublic of Venice, becoming the last person in modern-day Italy to be executed for sodomy.[34] (A later execution took place 1782 inPalermo, but the executed would be posthumously pardoned.[35])
1819 – PoeticimproviserTommaso Sgricci, after enormous theatrical successes throughout Europe, arrives in Rome to be crowned poet laureate, but his award is withdrawn at the last moment, and he is expelled from thePapal States, allegedly because of his scandalous homosexual lifestyle.[38]
1859 –Kingdom of Sardinia's articles 420–425 of the penal code promulgated byVictor Emmanuel II, which punished homosexual acts between men (although not women).
1860 – Italy unified, resulting in sodomy laws of Sardinia being spread to the rest of the state except for the formerKingdom of the Two Sicilies, taking into account the "particular characteristics of those that lived in the south".
1887 –Zanardelli Code ofGiuseppe Zanardelli removes all references to the stigmatization of homosexual people across the entire territory of Italy.
1889 – InItaly, homosexuality is legalised in the new Penal Code (effective 1890).[40]
1930–1945 –Benito Mussolini's Fascist government institutes the Rocco Code, which does not cover homosexuality. The government punishes male homosexual behaviour with administrative punishment, such as public admonition and confinement; gays were persecuted in the later years of the regime.[42] Under theItalian Social Republic of 1943–45, there was an attempt to criminalise homosexuality; however, the law was never implemented and the Rocco Code survived the Mussolini government.[43]
1968 – After a controversial trial, writer and artistAldo Braibanti is sentenced to nine years in prison for brainwashing (Italian:plagio) his younger male lover and another man. His lover undergoesshock treatments (conversion therapy) during 15 months in a mental institution.[44]
1972 – ActivistMariasilvia Spolato became the first woman in Italy to come out in a public square as a lesbian, losing her teaching license as a result. In 1971, Spolato was also a founder ofFuori! [it], the first homosexual organization in Italy.[45]
1972 – First LGBTQ public protest as activists from Fuori! demonstrate against the categorization of homosexuality as a 'sexual deviance' at the International Congress of Sexology inSanremo.[46]
1979 – The first ItalianGay Pride Parade takes place inPisa with about 500 people, as a protest against homophobic violence.[48]
1980 – The first nucleus of what later became Arcigay was formed inPalermo on December 9, 1980 as ARCI Gay. It is later renamedArcigay, which becomes one of Italy's most prominent LGBT rights organizations.
1998 – A lesbian couple is registered by city officials inPisa as 'a family' in their list of common-law marriages, causing condemnation by the Vatican.[49]
2002 –Franco Grillini introduces legislation that would modify article III of theItalian Constitution to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.[50][51] It is not successful.
2003 – Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment is illegal throughout the whole country, in conformity withEuropean Union directives.
2004 –Tuscany becomes the first Italian region to ban discrimination against homosexuals[52] in the areas of employment, education, public services, and accommodations.Silvio Berlusconi's government challenges the new law in court, asserting that only the central government had the right to pass such a law. TheConstitutional Court overturns the provisions regarding accommodations (with respect to private homes and religious institutions), but otherwise upholds most of the legislation.[53] Afterwards, the regions ofLiguria (November 2009),[54]Marche (February 2010),[55]Sicily (March 2015),[56][57]Piedmont (June 2016),[58]Umbria (April 2017),[59][60][61]Emilia-Romagna (July 2019)[62][63] andCampania (August 2020)[64] enact similar measures.
5274 Lesbian Mom at a 'talking book' LGBT event inPavia in 2010, where people told their stories to combathomophobia. L'amore spiazza, Pavia 16 May 2010 - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto
2004 – A police officer is reportedly fired for cross-dressing in public while off duty.[65]
2006 – Grillini again introduces a proposal to expand anti-discrimination laws, this time adding gender identity as well as sexual orientation.[51] It receives less support than the previous one had.
2007 – On 8 February the government led byRomano Prodi introduces a bill[67] which would grant rights in areas of labour law, inheritance, taxation and health care to same-sex and opposite-sex unregistered partnerships. The bill is never made a priority of the legislature and is eventually dropped when a new Parliament is elected after the Prodi government loses a confidence vote.
2007 – An ad showing a baby wearing a wristband label that says "homosexual" causes controversy. The ads are part of a regional government campaign to combat anti-gay discrimination.[68]2010-07-02 Arcigay float at Gay Pride Rome, 2010
2008 – Danilo Giuffrida is awarded 100,000euros compensation after having been ordered to re-take his driving test by theItalian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport due to his sexuality; the judge says that the Ministry of Transport is in clear breach of anti-discrimination laws.[69]
2018 – A lesbian couple's baby, conceived within vitro fertilisation, is allowed to register their son with city officials after the couple was initially told to lie about how the baby was conceived, because IVF was only recognized for heterosexual couples.[74]
2020 – On 19 November, theGay Party is officially presented as the first Italian political group dedicated especially to the defense of the rights of the LGBT population.[75]
2021 – The Italian Parliament passes an infrastracture bill containing a provision which makes advertisements with homophobic or transphobic messages illegal to expose on streets or on vehicles. The new law comes into force on 10 November.
^Penczak, Christopher (2003).Gay Witchcraft: Empowering the Tribe. York Beach: Red Wheel/Weiser. p. 11.ISBN1-57863-281-1. Retrieved2012-11-02.They encircle two other bird-masked men, both with erect penises. Parallel lines connect the neck to the buttocks and ankles and the penis of one man to the buttocks of another. Thought by most scholars to be a sacrificial rite in which the parallel lines represent bindings, other interpreters see this as a homoerotic initiatory rite, with the lines possibly representing male energy, or even ejaculation.
^Sergio Musitelli, Maurizio Bossi, Remigio Allegri,Storia dei costumi sessuali in occidente dalla preistoria ai giorni nostri, Rusconi, Milano 1999, pp. 126–127.
^abcVarner, Eric (2008). "Transcending Gender: Assimilation, Identity, and Roman Imperial Portraits".Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome. Supplementary Volume.7. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press:200–201.ISSN1940-0977.JSTOR40379354.OCLC263448435.Elagabalus is also alleged to have appeared as Venus and to have depilated his entire body. ... Dio recounts an exchange between Elagabalus and the well-endowed Aurelius Zoticus: when Zoticus addressed the emperor as 'my lord,' Elagabalus responded, 'Don't call me lord, I am a lady.' Dio concludes his anecdote by having Elagabalus asking his physicians to give him the equivalent of a woman's vagina by means of a surgical incision.
^Godbout, Louis (2004)."Elagabalus"(PDF).GLBTQ: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture. Chicago: glbtq, Inc. Retrieved2007-08-06.
^Theodosian Code 9.7.3: "When a man 'marries' in the manner of woman, a 'woman' about to offer himself to men what does he wish (Cum vir nubit in femina, femina viros proiectura, quid capiat), when sex has lost all its significance; when the crime is one which it is not profitable to know; when Venus is changed to another form; when love is sought and not found? We order the statutes to arise, the laws to be armed with an avenging sword, that those infamous persons who are now, or who hereafter may be, guilty may be subjected to exquisite punishment." This is denunciation of these pretended marriages which had no legal force
^(Theodosian Code 9.7.6): All persons who have the shameful custom of condemning a man's body, acting the part of a woman's to the sufferance of alien sex (for they appear not to be different from women), shall expiate a crime of this kind in avenging flames in the sight of the people.
^PETRI DAMIANI Liber gomorrhianus, ad Leonem IX Rom. Pon. in Patrologiae Cursus completus...accurante J.P., MIGNE, series secunda, tomus CXLV, col. 161; CANOSA, Romano, Storia di una grande paura La sodomia a Firenze e a Venezia nel quattrocento, Feltrinelli, Milano 1991, pp.13–14
^John Boswell, Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality (1980) p. 293.
^Eisenbichler, Konrad. "Laudomia Forteguerri: Constructions of a Woman."The Sword and the Pen: Women, Politics, and Poetry in Sixteenth-century Siena. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2012. 101-64.
^Mutini, Claudio."Campiglia, Magdalena".Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani. Treccani. RetrievedJuly 2, 2022.
^Kuzniar, Alice A. (1996). Alice A. Kuzniar (ed.).Outing Goethe and His Age. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. pp. 9–16.ISBN0804726140. RetrievedFebruary 26, 2014.
^Tartamella, Enzo (2003).Rapito d'improvvisa libidine. Storia della morale, della fede e dell'eros nella Sicilia del Settecento (in Italian). Trapani: Maroda. p. 190.
^Benadusi, Lorenzo, et al. “Chapter 5.” Homosexuality in Italian Literature, Society, and Culture, 1789-1919, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017, pp. 115–119.
^Cenni, Alessandra (2015)."Poletti, Cordula".Treccani (in Italian). Rome, Italy: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani.Archived from the original on 19 June 2020. Retrieved19 June 2020.
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