Did you know that Japanese samurai warriors have a long “tradition” of same-sex relationships, and Leonardo Da Vinci was arrested twice for having sex with him.
1 . According to historian Frank Barlow, King William II of England (1056 – 1100 ) was “addicted” to homosexual sex. Beside him, there are always many young men with stylish fashion style and long hair. Many historians argue that King William II favored these young men through their sexual prowess, not their political prowess. He died at the age of 44 and had no children.
King William II of England.
2 . John Rykener (or Eleanor Rykener) was a man dressed as a woman to work as a prostitute in the city of London in the 14th century. John was arrested for disguise. This is the only legal document from the Middle Ages that deals with same-sex sex. John said his customers are quite large and diverse, from merchants, priests to nuns.
3 . The earliest recorded form of same-sex marriage is “adelphopoiesis” – a ceremony performed in Christianity to bind two people of the same sex together into a church-sanctioned relationship. like siblings. It was quite popular until the late 18th century, causing controversy as an indirect way of promoting homosexuality.
4. Leonardo Da Vinci was imprisoned twice for having sex with him at the age of 24. He was later acquitted.
Leonardo Da Vinci.
5 . In Canada’s first gay trial in 1648, a male soldier was sentenced to death. However, he was acquitted after agreeing to serve as the first executioner of the French colony of New France (later Canada).
6 . Catharina Margaretha Linck was a Prussian woman who dressed as a man throughout her adult life. Catharina married and lived with another woman. Upon learning of the story, King Frederick William I sentenced Catharina to death in 1721.
7. Around 1600, William Shakespeare wrote two plays with female characters dressed as men , “As you like it” and “Twelfth night”. Many historians believe that this was a direct response of the great English poet to the Puritan campaign against male actors dressed as women on stage.
8 . In 1835, American writer Charles Dickens went to London to visit John Pratt and John Smith in prison. These are the last men to be hanged in the UK for homosexuality.
The execution of John Pratt and John Smith.
9. Deborah Sampson (1760 – 1827) is the “American version of Mulan” . During the war for the independence of the 13 colonies in North America against the British Empire, she disguised herself as a man to serve in the army under the name “Robert Shirtliff”. She was discovered 17 months later. Despite being married and having children, Deborah Sampson is known to have relationships with many other women.
Deborah Sampson.
10 . Japan has the shortest anti-gay law in history. It lasted from 1873 to 1883. Samurai warriors – who had a long ” tradition” of same-sex relationships – opposed the act and helped to abolish it.
11 . Katharine Lee Bates (1859 – 1929), the author of the song “America the Beautiful” , lived with Katharine Coman, a political economy teacher and founder of Wellesley College’s School of Economics, for 25 years. years until Katharine’s death in 1922.
12 . Before the 19th century, the most common 3rd person pronoun was “they” in England. It was later subdivided into “he” (he) and “she” (she).
13 . Duke of Kent George Edward Alexander Edmund (1902 – 1942) was the younger brother of King Edward VIII and George VI. He is bisexual and has had romantic relationships with both men and women.
Duke of Kent George Edward Alexander Edmund.
14 . In 1935, a desperate mother asked Sigmund Freud – the father of psychoanalysis – to “cure” her gay son. But Sigmund Freud replied that her son had “nothing to be ashamed of”.
15 . Before the Stonewall incident (1969) in New York City, there was a revolt of transgender people against police oppression in 1966 in the city of San Francisco.