Out In The Mountains : Columns - Stonehenge to Stonewall

For much of European history, from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance and beyond, same-sex activity, far from being the special provenance of a few people, was considered the “vice” of all. You still see this concept reflected in the arguments of the religious right. They foolishly argue that if society approves of homosexuality, then the human race will die out. They don’t realize the implications here: if, as they say, only the laws of our society are holding them back, then everyone must be a gay or lesbian wannabe! However, there just may be a nugget of truth here.

Back to pre-Renaissance days: to put it briefly, it seems that everybody did it back then. All sex was just an act or an activity you participated in whenever you got the chance. It was not part of your overall identity, as we think of it now, nor was it limited to the opposite sex. Don’t name it, just do it!

In a very interesting book by Alan Bray, the point is made that people often slept with others of their sex. Beds were scarce items. True, there were sometimes severe anti-sodomy laws on the books, but arrests were rare. Any same-sex action was relatively safe, because your own friends and family were unlikely to turn you in.

In Renaissance England, for example, 13 percent of the population was made up of servants, for whom marriage was expensive and thus difficult. Most societies carefully segregated men and women, and it does not take a sexpert to figure out that a lot of sexual activity was of the same-sex kind. And of course, sex was common between masters and servants (both male and female).

The “fag” system in universities and public schools, perfected by the English, involved younger students “fagging” as servants for older boys with a clear sexual obligation. The living arrangements of the male clerical and educational worlds also fostered intimacy between masters and students. To conclude, it really didn’t matter what European country you were in; same-sex activity was a common and unremarkable fact of life.

However, if you were to look around for a visible and continuous homosexual subculture, you would only find it in the molly houses, where drag queens reigned through the ages, or perhaps in the world of the theater. Since the time when boys played the roles of women in Shakespeare’s day, the theater has always attracted the gay man with an eye for an elegant costume.

I’m not gay, but my boyfriend is

The “don’t name it, just do it” attitude is still prevalent in Hispanic cultures. I remember trying to make inroads into the Mexican gay scene several years ago in Acapulco. (I confess that I am not very good at making inroads into ANY gay scene!) Though I speak fluent Spanish, my persistent questions about gay civil rights were met by puzzlement. I soon figured out that for Mexicans, “homosexual” or “gay” meant “men-who-dressed-as-women.”

Of course, I was talking to “macho” men, who had sex with each other and were married (of course), but they were not in any way gay, no sir! They were just men who preferred sex with other men. (Senor Macho also could not begin to understand that women might desire each other.)

Where men are men and women are glad there are sheep

There is that old bar joke about men trying to pick up women. The later it gets, the prettier the remaining women look. Putting this into historical perspective, I contend that if it gets late enough, other men begin to look pretty good! Later still, and even that ewe at the end of the bar looks rather fetching. I don’t know what it is about sheep, but I am in two very different hobbies with a lot of straight men where joking references to having sex with sheep are common. Many men seem to accept the reality that if you can get your rocks off, just about anything goes!

Now, I am no Freud, but even the fleeting realization of this would account for a lot of the homophobic terror we see in typical Vermont men. When confronted, they realize how easily resistance to any sex can be overcome by a couple of drinks, and they are bound to be terrified. (They must figure that the next step is the purchase of high heels and a wig.)

From what I understand, men put into prison immediately start having sex with other men. (This is also supposed to be true of women, but I am on less sure ground here. I have noticed that women are wired differently.) One of the most striking examples of this deliberate hypocrisy is found in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. Gay men, marked by their pink triangles, were despised by the other prisoners. However, the other prisoners were having sex with each other all the time. Since they were not “gay,” it was OK.

“Maybe we’re all homosexuals”

In a beautifully written article on the Citadel, the ultra-masculine military college in South Carolina, Susan Faludi gives a close look at “male bonding.” I was reminded of this article when I read about the recent UVM hockey team hazing rituals with their homoerotic overtones. (Walking around holding each others genitals?)

The cadets are very candid, “…with no women we can hug each other, when we are in the showers, it’s very intimate. You’re shaved, you’re naked and it makes us closer. You can cry. Males feel more affection for each other when women are not around.” One cadet concludes, “Maybe we’re all homosexuals.”

Here are just a couple traditional activities at the Citadel. On ‘Senior Rip-Off Day,’ three hundred seniors literally rip each other’s clothes off, burn them in a bonfire, and hug and wrestle on the ground. Then there’s the ‘Nude Platoon,’ in which a group of juniors, unclad except for their cross-webbing, run around the quad yelling, “We love the nude platoon!”

The most surprising thing in the article is the fact that many of the cadets seek out sex with drag queens in a nearby gay bar. The drag queens have nicknamed the Citadel “the Closet.”

I draw two conclusions here. First, throughout much of history, men just had sex with each other and didn’t talk about it, name it, or think anything peculiar about doing it. Second, it was drag queens who “manned” the front lines of gay history and gave us a vibrant and recognizable sub-culture that survived from generation to generation.

Next time: Bacon and the dead chicken

For More Information: This gay history column is the 19th in a series that began in prehistory. Much of my research for this column comes from two sources: Allan Bray’s Homosexuality in Renaissance England, and “The Naked Citadel,” an article by Susan Faludi in the New Yorker, September 5, 1994

Charlie Emond has a bachelor’s degree from Queens College and master’s degrees from both Dartmouth and Keene State. He teaches college history courses in Springfield and White River Junction. He has developed an on line course - Hidden History: Homosexuality in Western Civilization - for the Community College of Vermont.