Quote:
Originally Posted by Vizio
That is what marriage has always been. In 200+ years of American history, that's been a given. For almost all of human history, it's been male/female. That's what marriage is. It isn't discrimination to simply go by the definition of what things are.
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There is a book that perhaps you should read
Same-Sex Unions throughout Time: A History of Gay Marriage
And an article as well much of which I copied and paste to save you the effort
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histor...ame-sex_unions
Note it was a Christian emperor who outlawed same sex marriage, maybe not having same sex marriage is a religious custom? And there is more in the article including examples within Christian Europe
Ancient times[edit]
In North America, among the Native Americans societies, same-sex unions have taken place with persons known as Two-Spirit types. These are individuals who fulfill one of many mixed gender roles in First Nations and Native American tribes. "In many tribes, individuals who entered into same-sex relationships were considered holy and treated with utmost respect and acceptance," according to anthropologist Brian Gilley.[SIZE=2][37][/SIZE]
Classical Europe, Middle East, and China[edit]
Emperor
Nero is reported to have married at least two males in different occasions.
See also:
Homosexuality in ancient Rome and
Homosexuality in ancient Greece
There is history of recorded same-sex unions around the world.
[SIZE=2][2][/SIZE] Various types of same-sex unions have existed, ranging from informal, unsanctioned relationships to highly ritualized unions.
A same-sex union was known in Ancient Greece and Rome,
[SIZE=2][2][/SIZE] ancient Mesopotamia,
[SIZE=2][3][/SIZE] in some regions of China, such as
Fujian province, and at certain times in ancient European history.
[SIZE=2][4][/SIZE]
Same-sex marital practices and
rituals were more recognized in Mesopotamia than in
ancient Egypt. The Almanac of Incantations contained prayers favoring on an
equal basis the love of a man for a woman and of a man for man.
[SIZE=2][5][/SIZE]
In the southern Chinese province of
Fujian, through the
Ming dynasty period, females would bind themselves in contracts to younger females in elaborate ceremonies.
[SIZE=2][6][/SIZE] Males also entered similar arrangements. This type of arrangement was also similar in ancient European history.
[SIZE=2][7][/SIZE]
An example of egalitarian male
domestic partnership from the early
Zhou Dynasty period of China is recorded in the story of
Pan Zhang & Wang Zhongxian. While the relationship was clearly approved by the wider community, and was compared to heterosexual marriage, it did not involve a religious ceremony binding the couple.
[SIZE=2][8][/SIZE]
Some early Western societies integrated same-sex relationships. The practice of same-sex love in
ancient Greece often took the form of
pederasty, which was limited in duration and in many cases co-existed with marriage.
[SIZE=2][9][/SIZE] Documented cases in this region claimed these unions were temporary
pederastic relationships.
[SIZE=2][10][/SIZE][SIZE=2][11][/SIZE][SIZE=2][12][/SIZE][SIZE=2][13][/SIZE][SIZE=2][14][/SIZE][SIZE=2][15][/SIZE][SIZE=2][16][/SIZE] These unions created a moral dilemma for the Greeks and were not universally accepted.
[SIZE=2][17][/SIZE]
At least two of the Roman Emperors were in same-sex unions; and in fact, thirteen out of the first fourteen Roman Emperors held to be bisexual or exclusively homosexual.
[SIZE=2][18][/SIZE] The first Roman emperor to have married a man was
Nero, who is reported to have married two other men on different occasions. First with one of his
freedman,
Pythagoras, to whom Nero took the role of the bride, and later as a groom Nero married a young boy to replace his young teenage concubine whom he had killed
[SIZE=2][19][/SIZE] named
Sporus in a very public ceremony... with all the solemnities of matrimony, and lived with him as his spouse. A friend gave the "bride" away "as required by law." The marriage was celebrated separately in both Greece and Rome in extravagant public ceremonies.
[SIZE=2][20][/SIZE] The Child Emperor
Elagabalus referred to his
chariot driver, a blond slave from
Caria named
Hierocles, as his husband.
[SIZE=2][21][/SIZE] He also married an athlete named Zoticus in a lavish public ceremony in Rome amidst the rejoicings of the citizens.
[SIZE=2][22][/SIZE]
In
Hellenic Greece, the
pederastic relationships between Greek men (
erastes) and youths (
eromenos) were similar to marriage in that the age of the youth was similar to the age at which women married (the mid-teens, though in some city states, as young as age seven), and the relationship could only be undertaken with the consent of the father.[SIZE=2][
citation needed[/SIZE][SIZE=2]][/SIZE] This consent, just as in the case of a daughter's marriage, was contingent on the suitor's social standing. The relationship consisted of very specific social and religious responsibilities and also had a sexual component. Unlike marriage, however, a pederastic relation was temporary and ended when the boy turned seventeen.
At the same time, many of these relationships might be more clearly understood as mentoring relationships between adult men and young boys rather than an analog of marriage. This is particularly true in the case of Sparta, where the relationship was intended to further a young boy's military training. While the relationship was generally lifelong and of profound emotional significance to the participants, it was not considered marriage by contemporary culture, and the relationship continued even after participants reached age 20 and married women, as was expected in the culture.[SIZE=2][
citation needed[/SIZE][SIZE=2]][/SIZE]
Numerous examples of same sex unions among peers, not age-structured, are found in Ancient Greek writings. Famous Greek couples in same sex relationships include Harmodius and Aristogiton, Pelopidas and Epaminondas and Alexander and Bogoas. However, in none of these same sex unions is the Greek word for "marriage" ever mentioned. The Romans appear to have been the first to perform same sex marriages.
It should be noted, however, that
conubium existed only between a
civis Romanus and a
civis Romana (that is, between a male Roman citizen and a female Roman citizen), so that a marriage between two Roman males (or with a slave) would have no legal standing in Roman law (apart, presumably, from the arbitrary will of the emperor in the two aforementioned cases).
[SIZE=2][23][/SIZE]
Same-sex marriage was outlawed on December 16, 342 AD by the Christian emperors
Constantius II and
Constans. This law specifically outlaws marriages between men and reads as follows:
When a man “marries” in the manner of a woman, a “woman” about to renounce men, what does he wish, when sex has lost its significance; when the crime is one which it is not profitable to know; when Venus is changed into 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. (Theodosian Code 9.7.3) [SIZE=2][24][/SIZE]
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You read it your way, I'll read it mine.
..."teaching him about the 'Kingdom of God". Is that what they called it in those days!!!
