Gay Civil Unions Prevalent In Medieval Europe

Civil unions between male couples existed around 600 years ago in medieval Europe, a historian now says.

Historical evidence, including legal documents and gravesites, can be interpreted as supporting the prevalence of homosexual relationships hundreds of years ago, said Allan Tulchin of Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania.

“Western family structures have been much more varied than many people today seem to realize," Tulchin writes in the September issue of the Journal of Modern History. "And Western legal systems have in the past made provisions for a variety of household structures.”

"I suspect that some of these relationships were sexual, while others may not have been," Tulchin said. "It is impossible to prove either way and probably also somewhat irrelevant to understanding their way of thinking. They loved each other, and the community accepted that.”


SOURCE:
news.Yahoo.com

This is fascinating to say the least.

Honestly though while it is somewhat surprising to me, it's not that surprising,
I mean acceptance of homosexuality is not a new thing, it was a normal part of life
for the ancient Greeks, it was accepted in China throughout its history so long as one
did not forget there duties (having kids, providing for the family etc.) and has been
throughout Japans history at the very least tolerated, in fact so much so that during
the Meiji era it was considered more honourable to be gay than straight.

I really do have to wonder though what threw us into this dark age on the subject
that only now are Civil Unions becoming attainable for homosexuals, and than only in
places that are liberal, secular/moderate or libertarian.


Comments, Opinions?

reply to post by iori_komei


This is quite interesting. The only thing that I can imagine that changed is the rise of the Christian fundamentalists and their power. They are very anti-gay for the most part.

Oh I'm so happy I live in the land of the truly free.

Gay couples are totally accepted here in Canada, complete with civil unions, government benefits, corporate benefit plans, adoption laws, etc.......

My husband and I have been together over 18 years now, and within 6 months of getting together I was put on his work benefits for dental, prescriptions, private hospital rooms, and things like beneficiary to his pension plan.
And he worked for the Ontario government at that time.

So we've had equal right for more than 17 years here in Canada, that I know of.


I'll also add that we live in a very close community with many families and children in our complex, and we both have large extended families.

We are accepted as any other couple in the neighbourhood, and no one is afraid to have their kids visit our home, or family members leaving their children with us when they are away, or just to spend the week-end with their Uncles.


I think it is the Christian Fundamentalists that are the main lobby group in the United States that cause all the trouble, but in some Muslim countries being a homosexual is punishable by death. Even with the threat of death it still goes on, just in a very clandestine way.

Perverts and pedophiles sure don't help the cause, and the media promotes every case because they know the salacious details sell papers and air time.
In fact, it's proven that so called heterosexual men are the largest offenders against children. It just seems the media and society like to point the finger at the gay population as often as they can.

We don't choose our sexuality, and it's acceptance has varied throughout history depending on the culture and who's in charge. It's certainly not going to go away, and we know it's been around for as long as mankind has recorded history. Probably long before that as well......


We're here, we're queer, and society need to get over this ridiculous prejudice and hatred.