The origins and reasons behind homophobia...

[Virge]

I found this on my desk... It's something I started digging into and did a comment about on a thread some time back...

We all know homosexuality is banned in the Old Testament of the Bible. Have you ever wondered why it was put in there? I did. It's weird.... how it's just stuck in there... with other laws about sex etc.

• Leviticus
  
• 18:19Do not approach a woman to have sexual relations during the uncleanness of her monthly period.
  
• 18:20 Thou shalt not lie with thy neighbour's wife, nor be defiled with mingling of seed.
  
• 18:21 Thou not give any of thy children to be sacrificed to the idol Moloch: I am the Lord.
  
• 18:22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, because it is an abomination.
  
• 18:23 Thou shalt not copulate with any beast, neither shalt thou be defiled with it. A woman shall not lie down to a beast, nor copulate with it: because it is a heinous crime.
  
• 18:24 Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled.

Context is everything to understanding this. Those laws were written by the ancient Jews in a tiny land surrounded on all sides by hostile nations. They needed strong armies and to get them they needed to increase the population. Homosexuality doesn't increase a population. Neither does sex during menstruation, sacrificing children, sex with sheep, or masturbation.

Stupid theory, huh?
Ghengis Khan banned his soldiers from taking male sex slaves unless they had more than six sons of age to fight. He encouraged it in conquered nations by taking their women for himself, his officers and soldiers who had no restrictions on the number of wives and concubines they could have, The Khan had several hundred children who have spread his genes to 16 million people living today.
Atilla"the Hun" made it a law that his armies were forbidden to have sex except with wives and concubines before they had sons old enough to do battle.

But the most convincing example of bans on homosexuality in order to increase the population and armies comes from, of all places, Rome, under Augustus Caesar who is known to have had many male sexual companions from his teen years well into his late twenties.

[SIZE="2"]In 18 BCE a census was done in Rome that gave some unpleasant news to Augustus. Roman citizens were almost outnumbered by non Romans. This was bad news because being a Roman citizen was a requirement for all government jobs throughout the empire and many other things. The foreigners who'd come to Rome were having more children as Roman citizens had fewer.

Augustus decreed his "Julian Laws of chastity, repressing adultery... but they covered many things. The laws banned marriages of Roman citizens with non citizens. Men up to sixty and women up to fifty were fined, taxed and banned from participating in many social functions. They couldn't inherit, hold government jobs or attend any public entertainment. They weren't allowed to ride in carriages, wear jewelry or the cloaks that identified them by class. Those without children were

Augustus went so far as to begin exiling Roman even wealthy powerful citizens for homosexuality and even the suspicion of it.
[/SIZE]

And there are others in history... Hitler being one he set up programs for thousands of patriotic young German women to be impregnated by pure Ayran men while trying to exterminate homosexuals.

[araya]

you found all these on your desk?
you know what I found in mine? chargers, bottles, wallet, and a pile of trash
I'm beginning to see you as a shining intellectual man right now lol and I was just a savage tribes who lives deep in the forest compared to you
nice info tho', pretty amusing facts

[Butterfingers]

After all of the fuss, here we are! Nature wins, there are gays in the world. One may as well outlaw blue eyes or being left handed.
( I am blue eyed, left handed and gay)

[Virge]

After all of the fuss, here we are! Nature wins, there are gays in the world. One may as well outlaw blue eyes or being left handed.
( I am blue eyed, left handed and gay)

WOW... blue eyed? left handed? AND gay???? Too many coincidences!

We must be related.

[Haruka]

I think the origins of homophobia could probably be traced back to the earliest homo sapiens. It's the alpha male mentality. In early male dominant societies, it's not hard to imagine that people thought that a guy who spreads his legs for another guy is to be considered as less masculine/powerful/honorable than the dominant one on top (Oh dear I just saw Achilles being pile driven by Patroclus. He's supposed to be a warrior, not a woman!). So they were shunned as inferior beings. Even in Ancient Greece this sort of contempt was especially reserved for the bottoms. It's nonsensical but people at that time didn't have much of a sense.

As for reasons : Haggard's Law?

[ChadCoxRox]

I found condoms in my desk and my belly does not have a nasty star on it. Remember the Sneeches?

I'm just thankful to live the prime of my life (by my own standards lol) in the 21st century. There is still so much suffering for so many though so I won't give up the fight and have related plans for even beyond the grave!

[meridannight]

Even in Ancient Greece this sort of contempt was especially reserved for the bottoms. It's nonsensical but people at that time didn't have much of a sense.

this was the case in Rome, not Greece. in Greece, homosexuality was actually associated with heroism in battle, and there was a celebratory tone to the thing.

It's nonsensical but people at that time didn't have much of a sense.

tell that to the ancient Chinese who never discriminated against homosexuality and where homosexual couples were even known to live together as married couples. male homosexuality was so natural and freely expressed there, actually, that when the Europeans came into contact with the Chinese it horrified them a great deal. and it wasn't till that contact with the European civilizations that the Chinese started to rethink themselves on their position (one of the worst examples of the European influence).

blaming it on the ignorance of the age does not cut it here. in addition to China, and ancient Greece, Japan was also liberal on sexual conduct of its inhabitants.

[meridannight]

They needed strong armies and to get them they needed to increase the population. Homosexuality doesn't increase a population. Neither does sex during menstruation, sacrificing children, sex with sheep, or masturbation.

when did the jews have any armies? lols.

sorry. you're not wrong in your deduction, but the jews have never commanded any military power. they were the repressed and conquered people, yes, surrounded by hostile forces on all sides. but their answer to their predicament were the exaggeratedly strong principles for family life and marriage for the time. which happened to bias them against homosexuality in the first place. for the same reason they were also highly biased against bachelors, so much so that men were forced to marry against their will, on occasion.

ironically, they didn't gain anything from that strategy and they're still spread out and nomadic as they were back in historical times.

[meridannight]

WOW... blue eyed? left handed? AND gay???? Too many coincidences!

We must be related.

all blue-eyed individuals have a common ancestor, by the way. the blue eye color arose as a genetic mutation in one single individual. everybody who has a blue eye color today comes from that person. so, yeah, technically you are related.

[Virge]

when did the jews have any armies? lols.

Here's some reading material. I never said they had a formidable army comapred to their larger neighbors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_military_history
http://leonardooh.wordpress.com/2007/12/...nt-israel/
http://www.jewishwars.net/
http://www.bible-archaeology.info/war.htm

And whether or not their armies were formidable isn't important. All that's important is the way the ancient Jews utilized the same principles as others to increase birth rates that led to discriminations against homosexuals. In western civilization the laws of the ancient jews have had more effect on homosexuals than the laws of any other single source.