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110-531: Intersex can be contrasted with homosexuality or same-sex attraction . Numerous studies have shown higher rates of same sex attraction in intersex people, with a recent Australian study of people born with atypical sex characteristics finding that, while 48% labeled themselves as straight, 52% of respondents labeled themselves as various other categories besides heterosexual. Clinical research on intersex subjects has been used to investigate means of preventing homosexuality. In 1990, Heino Meyer-Bahlburg wrote on

220-571: A de facto third category. The legislation has been criticized by civil society and human rights organizations as misguided. Research published in 2016 found no substantive reduction in the numbers of intersex medical interventions for infants and children with intersex conditions in the period from 2005 to 2014. In 2021, the Bundestag (the German parliament) passed legal protections, albeit protections that have been criticized due to exceptions to

330-402: A Prussian anti- sodomy law . In 1886, the psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing used the terms homosexual and heterosexual in his book Psychopathia Sexualis . Krafft-Ebing's book was so popular among both laymen and doctors that the terms heterosexual and homosexual became the most widely accepted terms for sexual orientation. As such, the current use of the term has its roots in

440-606: A "prenatal hormone theory of sexual orientation." The author discussed research finding higher rates of same sex attraction among women with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, and consistent sexual attraction to men among women with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome - a population described by the author as "genetic males." Meyer-Bahlburg also discussed sexual attraction by individuals with partial androgen insensitivity syndrome , 5α-Reductase deficiency and 17β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase III deficiency , stating that sexual attraction towards females in individuals with these conditions

550-436: A 'third sex' as superior is overly simplistic, and that "to understand whether a system is more or less oppressive than another we have to understand how it treats its various members, not only its 'thirds'." The Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions states that the legal recognition of intersex people is firstly about access to the same rights as other men and women, when assigned male or female; secondly it

660-493: A birth certificate recording sex as indeterminate, and the first Australian passport with an 'X' sex marker in 2003. On September 26, 2016, California resident Sara Kelly Keenan became the second person in the United States (after Elisa Rae Shupe ) to legally change their gender to 'non-binary'. Keenan cited Shupe's case as inspiration for their petition, "It never occurred to me that this was an option, because I thought

770-616: A change only to the types of medical classification adopted. Rising numbers of masculinizing surgeries took place, exceeding 1600 per year. Between 10 and 16% of children diagnosed with hypospadias underwent a plastic reconstruction of the penis . In a hearing of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, German government stated that irreversible medical interventions were permissible where they are "a life-saving procedure, or

880-414: A contemporary construction of sexuality that would have been foreign to their times. Other scholars see continuity instead. In social science, there has been a dispute between "essentialist" and "constructionist" views of homosexuality. The debate divides those who believe that terms such as "gay" and "straight" refer to objective, culturally invariant properties of persons from those who believe that

990-457: A different sex or gender " and "ensur[ing] that sex or gender classifications are amendable through a simple administrative procedure at the request of the individuals concerned." It also advocates for non-binary options and self-identification for all while calling for an end to registering sex on birth certificates. Alex MacFarlane is believed to be the first person in Australia to obtain

1100-525: A free adult male and a free adolescent, was valued for its pedagogic benefits and as a means of population control, though occasionally blamed for causing disorder. Plato praised its benefits in his early writings but in his late works proposed its prohibition. Aristotle , in the Politics , dismissed Plato's ideas about abolishing homosexuality (2.4); he explains that barbarians like the Celts accorded it

1210-472: A genderless person, but rather perceives themself as having a gender beyond male or female". This ruling was followed in August 2018 by a cabinet decision to create a new sex classification, "diverse", for intersex people only. This has been criticized for failing to address concerns about medical interventions, and for failing to make this non-binary gender category available to non-intersex people. The proposal

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1320-578: A handful of accounts by Arab travelers to Europe during the mid-1800s. Two of these travelers, Rifa'ah al-Tahtawi and Muhammad as-Saffar, show their surprise that the French sometimes deliberately mistranslated love poetry about a young boy, instead referring to a young female, to maintain their social norms and morals. Israel is considered the most tolerant country in the Middle East and Asia to homosexuals, with Tel Aviv being named "the gay capital of

1430-402: A homosexual orientation (the other is sheep). Many gay and lesbian people are in committed same-sex relationships. These relationships are equivalent to heterosexual relationships in essential psychological respects. Homosexual relationships and acts have been admired as well as condemned throughout recorded history, depending on the form they took and the culture in which they occurred. Since

1540-730: A means of preventing homosexuality and "uppity women." A poll sampled from primarily LGBTQ intersex youth in the US by The Trevor Project found that 55% identified as bisexual / pansexual , 28% gay / lesbian , 12% queer , 2% straight and 3% questioning . Intersex activists and scholars such as Morgan Holmes , Katrina Karkazis and Morgan Carpenter have identified heteronormativity in medical rationales for medical interventions on infants and children with intersex characteristics. Holmes and Carpenter have sometimes talked of intersex bodies as "queer bodies", while Carpenter also stresses inadequacies and "dangerous" consequences from framing intersex as

1650-627: A medical subject, but his life also illustrates the historical legal tradition. Assigned female at birth, Dürrge changed name and designation to male as an adult, in line with articles Articles 19-24 of the Prussian Code of 1792, which enabled hermaphrodites to choose to live as either male or female from the age of majority. In the 20th century, the term intersex was coined by the German-born geneticist Richard Goldschmidt . In 1932 gynecologist and obstetrician Hans Naujoks performed what

1760-536: A much more informal, unpublicized movement among British intellectuals and writers, led by such figures as Edward Carpenter and John Addington Symonds . Beginning in 1894 with Homogenic Love , Socialist activist and poet Edward Carpenter wrote a string of pro-homosexual articles and pamphlets, and "came out" in 1916 in his book My Days and Dreams . In 1900, Elisar von Kupffer published an anthology of homosexual literature from antiquity to his own time, Lieblingminne und Freundesliebe in der Weltliteratur . There are

1870-461: A negative connotation . Gay and lesbian are the most common alternatives. The first letters are frequently combined to create the initialism LGBT (sometimes written as GLBT), in which B and T refer to bisexual and transgender people. Gay especially refers to male homosexuality, but may be used in a broader sense to refer to all LGBTQ people. In the context of sexuality, lesbian refers only to female homosexuality. The word lesbian

1980-550: A prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex. Organisation Intersex International Australia successfully lobbied for inclusion of a legal attribute of "intersex status" in anti-discrimination law, stating that protection on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity was insufficient. Following 2015 legislation in Malta , an attribute of sex characteristics is now more widespread. Multiple organizations have highlighted appeals to LGBT rights recognition that fail to address

2090-532: A punishment but must be confessed to the monastery. These codes apply to monks only and not to the general population. The Kama Sutra written in India around 200 AD also described numerous homosexual sex acts positively. There were no legal restrictions on homosexuality or transsexuality for the general population prior to early modern period and colonialism, however certain dharmic moral codes forbade sexual misconduct (of both heterosexual and homosexual nature) among

2200-508: A requirement for some intersex infants and otherwise not available. This was introduced as a measure to prevent early intersex medical interventions, but intersex civil society organizations fear that it will encourage such interventions, and there is no evidence of reductions in surgery numbers. Civil society organizations, including Intergeschlechtliche Menschen, OII Germany and Zwischengeschlecht , have submitted reports to Land, federal and international human rights institutions. In

2310-748: A sexual orientation or gender identity issue. In What Can Queer Theory Do for Intersex? Iain Morland contrasts queer "hedonic activism" with an experience of insensate post-surgical intersex bodies to claim that "queerness is characterized by the sensory interrelation of pleasure and shame." Intersex can also be contrasted with transgender , which describes the condition in which one's gender identity does not match one's assigned sex. Some people are both intersex and transgender. A 2012 clinical review paper reported that between 8.5% and 20% of people with intersex variations experienced gender dysphoria . A report by The Trevor Project on polling intersex youth in

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2420-642: A special honor (2.6.6), while the Cretans used it to regulate the population (2.7.5). Some scholars argue that there are examples of homosexual love in ancient literature, such as Achilles and Patroclus in the Iliad . Little is known of female homosexuality in antiquity. Sappho , born on the island of Lesbos , was included by later Greeks in the canonical list of nine lyric poets . The adjectives deriving from her name and place of birth ( Sapphic and Lesbian) came to be applied to female homosexuality beginning in

2530-743: A state could criminalize sodomy , but, in 2003, overturned itself in Lawrence v. Texas and thereby legalized homosexual activity throughout the United States of America . It is only since the 2010s that census forms and political conditions have facilitated the visibility and enumeration of same-sex relationships. Same-sex marriage in the United States expanded from one state in 2004 to all 50 states in 2015, through various state court rulings, state legislation, direct popular votes ( referendums and initiatives ), and federal court rulings. In East Asia , same-sex love has been referred to since

2640-515: A third option of "inter" or "diverse" in the birth registry. The High Court said it found no violation of the plaintiff's basic rights since intersex people have been able since 2013 to leave the gender entry in German birth registries blank. In November 2017, the German Constitutional Court ruled that civil status law must allow a third gender option. Open sex entries don't "reflect that the complainant does not see themself as

2750-422: Is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exclusively to people of the same sex or gender. It "also refers to a person's sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions." Along with bisexuality and heterosexuality , homosexuality is one of the three main categories of sexual orientation within

2860-598: Is a Greek and Latin hybrid , with the first element derived from Greek ὁμός homos , "same" (not related to the Latin homo , "man", as in Homo sapiens ), thus connoting sexual acts and affections between members of the same sex, including lesbianism. The first known appearance of homosexual in print is found in an 1868 letter to Karl Heinrich Ulrichs by the Austrian-born novelist Karl-Maria Kertbeny . arguing against

2970-487: Is about access to administrative corrections to legal documents when an original sex assignment is not appropriate; and thirdly it is not about the creation of a third sex or gender classification for intersex people as a population but it is, instead, about self-determination . The relationship of intersex to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans, and queer communities is complex, but intersex people are often added to LGBT to create an LGBTI community. A 2019 background note by

3080-466: Is also a word referring to same-sex love, homophilia . Some synonyms for same-sex attraction or sexual activity include men who have sex with men or MSM (used in the medical community when specifically discussing sexual activity) and homoerotic (referring to works of art). Pejorative terms in English include queer , faggot , fairy , poof , poofter and homo . Beginning in

3190-467: Is an initialism that stands for lesbian , gay , bisexual , and transgender , and others. The initialism has become mainstream as a self-designation; it has been adopted by the majority of sexuality and gender identity-based community centers and media in the United States , as well as many other countries. Another variant is LGBTQIA , which is used, for example, by the "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual Resource Center" at

3300-531: Is derived from the name of the Greek island Lesbos , where the poet Sappho wrote largely about her emotional relationships with young women. Although early writers also used the adjective homosexual to refer to any single-sex context (such as an all-girls school), today the term is used exclusively in reference to sexual attraction, activity, and orientation. The term homosocial is now used to describe single-sex contexts that are not specifically sexual. There

3410-435: Is drawn to the feminine more than the male, the person does not receive the order. If the reverse, the person is able to receive but ought not to be ordained on account of deformity and monstrosity." Historical accounts of intersex people are scarce, but 19th-century medical journals document Gottlieb Göttlich , a man who made a living from being studied by medical practitioners, and Karl Dürrge . Dürrge also made his living as

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3520-555: Is used to deconstruct sexes, gender roles, compulsory heterosexuality, and even Western science, rather than addressing medical ethics or other issues that directly impact the lives of intersex people. But perhaps this is an inaccurate way to describe the situation: the truth is not that these discussions are "stuck" prematurely, but that they are starting from a wrong place with a wrong set of priorities". In June 2016, Organisation Intersex International Australia pointed to contradictory statements by Australian governments, suggesting that

3630-796: The Civil Marriage Act , which legalised same-sex marriage across Canada. Canada has been referred to as the most gay-friendly country in the world, ranked first in the Gay Travel Index chart in 2018, and among the five safest in Forbes magazine in 2019. It was also ranked first in Asher & Lyric's LGBTQ+ Danger Index in a 2021 update. In 1986, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Bowers v. Hardwick that

3740-572: The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin , placing fourth in the women's high jump. She later competed and set a world record for the women's high jump at the 1938 European Championships . Raised as a girl, tests by the German police concluded that Ratjen was a man. Ratjen later took the name Heinrich Ratjen following an official registry change. Formal sex verification testing was controversially later introduced in sport. Time magazine later reported that Ratjen tearfully confessed that he had been forced by

3850-839: The Americans with Disabilities Act . In 2013, the Australian Senate published a report on the Involuntary or coerced sterilisation of intersex people in Australia as part of a broader inquiry into the involuntary or coercive sterilization of people with disabilities. In Europe, OII Europe has identified multiple articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities , including on equality and non-discrimination, and freedom from torture, and protecting

3960-672: The Aztecs , Mayas , Quechuas , Moches , Zapotecs , the Incas , and the Tupinambá of Brazil. The Spanish conquerors were horrified to discover sodomy openly practiced among native peoples, and attempted to crush it out by subjecting the berdaches (as the Spanish called them) under their rule to severe penalties, including public execution , burning and being torn to pieces by dogs. The Spanish conquerors talked extensively of sodomy among

4070-462: The Criminal Code in 1969 to provide that anal sex between consenting adults in private (defined as only two persons) was not a criminal offence. In advocating for the law, the then-Minister of Justice, Pierre Trudeau , said: "The state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation." In 1995, the Supreme Court of Canada held that sexual orientation is a protected personal characteristic under

4180-631: The Duke of Buckingham , served to highlight the issue, including in anonymously authored street pamphlets: "The world is chang'd I know not how, For men Kiss Men, not Women now;...Of J. the First and Buckingham: He, true it is, his Wives Embraces fled, To slabber his lov'd Ganimede" ( Mundus Foppensis, or The Fop Display'd , 1691). Love Letters Between a Certain Late Nobleman and the Famous Mr. Wilson

4290-630: The European Union  (light green)  –  [ Legend ] Intersex people in Germany have legal recognition of their rights to physical integrity and bodily autonomy, with exceptions, but no specific protections from discrimination on the basis of sex characteristics. In response to an inquiry by the German Ethics Council in 2012, the government passed legislation in 2013 designed to classify some intersex infants as

4400-846: The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has stated that intersex persons are a distinct population with concerns about "representation, misrepresentation and resourcing", but who share "common concerns" with LGBT people "due to shared experiences of harm arising from dominant societal sex and gender norms." The paper identifies both how intersex people can suffer human rights violations "before they are able to develop or freely express and identity" and how "stereotypes, fear and stigmatization of LGBT people provide rationales for forced and coercive medical interventions on children with intersex variations." Julius Kaggwa of SIPD Uganda has written that, while

4510-644: The Organisation Intersex International (OII) Germany , OII Europe , and Intergeschlechtliche Menschen e.V., because they provide too many exceptions. Whether the protection takes hold in an individual case depends on whether the medical professional diagnoses the child with variations of sex development (the German implementation of disorders of sex development ) or not. Two legal cases seeking compensation for "unwanted, harmful medical interventions" have succeeded, those of Christiane Völling and Michaela Raab. Both were adults at

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4620-539: The University of California, Davis . The United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) have framed LGBT, others "whose sexual orientation and/or gender identity varies, those who may not self-identify as LGBT" and also intersex populations (as persons with disorders of sex development ) as "sexual and gender minority" (SGM) populations. This has led to the development of an NIH SGM Health Research Strategic Plan. The concept of queer can also be included to form

4730-434: The heterosexual–homosexual continuum . Although no single theory on the cause of sexual orientation has yet gained widespread support, scientists favor biological theories . There is considerably more evidence supporting nonsocial, biological causes of sexual orientation than social ones, especially for males. A major hypothesis implicates the prenatal environment , specifically the organizational effects of hormones on

4840-416: The law and the church established sodomy as a transgression against divine law or a crime against nature . The condemnation of anal sex between males, however, predates Christian belief. Throughout the majority of Christian history , most Christian theologians and denominations have considered homosexual behavior as immoral or sinful . Condemnation was frequent in ancient Greece; for instance,

4950-545: The 1990s, some of these have been reclaimed as positive words by gay men and lesbians, as in the usage of queer studies , queer theory , and even the popular American television program Queer Eye for the Straight Guy . The word homo occurs in many other languages without the pejorative connotations it has in English. As with ethnic slurs and racial slurs , the use of these terms can still be highly offensive. The range of acceptable use for these terms depends on

5060-480: The 19th century. Sappho's poetry centers on passion and love for various personages and both genders. The narrators of many of her poems speak of infatuations and love (sometimes requited, sometimes not) for various females, but descriptions of physical acts between women are few and subject to debate. In Ancient Rome , the young male body remained a focus of male sexual attention, but relationships were between older free men and slaves or freed youths who took

5170-754: The Middle East" and considered one of the most gay friendly cities in the world. The annual Pride Parade in support of homosexuality takes place in Tel Aviv. On the other hand, many governments in the Middle East often ignore, deny the existence of, or criminalize homosexuality. Homosexuality is illegal in almost all Muslim countries. Same-sex intercourse officially carries the death penalty in several Muslim nations: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Mauritania , northern Nigeria , and Yemen . Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , during his 2007 speech at Columbia University , asserted that there were no gay people in Iran. However,

5280-510: The Nazis to pose as a woman "for the sake of the honor and glory of Germany". In the 21st century, legal cases by Christiane Völling and Michaela Raab, provide first and later examples of successful legal action against coercive intersex medical interventions . Also in this century, Germany introduced what may be the first form of third gender recognition in Europe, albeit controversially as

5390-581: The Riddle of Man-Manly Love. In 1867, he became the first self-proclaimed homosexual person to speak out publicly in defense of homosexuality when he pleaded at the Congress of German Jurists in Munich for a resolution urging the repeal of anti-homosexual laws. Sexual Inversion by Havelock Ellis , published in 1896, challenged theories that homosexuality was abnormal, as well as stereotypes , and insisted on

5500-674: The US found that 42% identified as cisgender , 32% non-binary , 17% transgender , and 9% questioning , the poll sampled primarily LGBTQ youth. The rate of being transgender/non-binary in the overall US youth population is 5%. Recognition of third sex or gender classifications occurs in several countries. Sociological research in Australia, a country with a third 'X' sex classification, shows that 19% of people born with atypical sex characteristics selected an "X" or "other" option, while 52% are women, 23% men, and 6% unsure. A German law requiring that infants which can be assigned to neither sex have their status left blank on their birth certificate

5610-553: The adopted act does not address this category of people and their situation therefore remains unclear pending additional case-law. Since 2017, persons classified as neither male nor female (or intersex people) can legally marry another person of any sex/gender within Germany. Since 1 October 2017, same-sex marriage became legal within Germany and registered partnerships that had been legally available since 2001, were abolished. Same-sex step adoption has also been legal since 2005 and

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5720-592: The ancient world. However, there were diverse sexual practices that varied in acceptance depending on time and place. In ancient Greece, the pattern of adolescent boys engaging in sexual practices with older males did not constitute a homosexual identity in the modern sense since such relations were seen as phases in life, not permanent orientations, since later on the younger partners would commonly marry females and reproduce. Other scholars argue that there are significant continuities between ancient and modern homosexuality. In cultures influenced by Abrahamic religions ,

5830-496: The best interest of the child, for example if a child was suicidal." In 2017, Amnesty International published a report condemning "non-emergency, invasive and irreversible medical treatment with harmful effects" on children born with variations of sex characteristics in Germany and Denmark. It found that surgeries take place with limited psychosocial support, based on gender stereotypes, but without firm evidence. Amnesty International reported that "there are no binding guidelines for

5940-403: The broader 19th-century tradition of personality taxonomy. Many modern style guides in the U.S. recommend against using homosexual as a noun, instead using gay man or lesbian . Similarly, some recommend completely avoiding usage of homosexual as it has a negative, clinical history and because the word only refers to one's sexual behavior (as opposed to romantic feelings) and thus it has

6050-477: The cause in a neutral/scientific manner. Numerous artworks and literary works from this period also describe homosexuality. The Pali Cannon, written in Sri Lanka between 600 BC and 100 BC, states that sexual relations, whether of homosexual or of heterosexual nature, is forbidden in the monastic code, and states that any acts of soft homosexual sex (such as masturbation and interfumeral sex) does not entail

6160-509: The child. In 2010, the German Ethics Council was instructed to review the situation of intersex people in Germany following a demand by CEDAW to protect the human rights of intersex persons. A 2012 report by the German Ethics Council stated that, "Many people who were subjected to a 'normalizing' operation in their childhood have later felt it to have been a mutilation and would never have agreed to it as adults." Legislation

6270-569: The classical pattern of Greece and Rome. But even as many of the male population were engaging in same-sex relationships, the authorities, under the aegis of the Officers of the Night court, were prosecuting, fining, and imprisoning a good portion of that population. From the second half of the 13th century, death was the punishment for male homosexuality in most of Europe. The relationships of socially prominent figures, such as King James I and

6380-412: The consent of the parents - if the operation cannot be postponed until age 14. The majority of legal scholars and psychologists consulted support the approach. The Federal Chamber of Psychotherapists requires the mandatory participation of a counsellor with experience in intersex in an assessment before a possible intervention. While supportive of progress, the law that was finally passed was criticized by

6490-410: The context and speaker. Conversely, gay , a word originally embraced by homosexual men and women as a positive, affirmative term (as in gay liberation and gay rights ), came into widespread pejorative use among young people in the early 2000s. The American LGBT rights organization GLAAD advises the media to avoid using the term homosexual to describe gay people or same-sex relationships as

6600-537: The dignity and rights of LGBT and intersex people are recognized while, at the same time, harmful practices on intersex children continue. In August 2016, Zwischengeschlecht described actions to promote equality or civil status legislation without action on banning "intersex genital mutilations" as a form of pinkwashing . The organization has previously highlighted evasive government statements to UN Treaty Bodies that conflate intersex, transgender and LGBT issues, instead of addressing harmful practices on infants. LGBT+

6710-515: The earliest recorded history. Homosexuality in China , known as the passions of the cut peach and various other euphemisms, has been recorded since approximately 600 BCE. Homosexuality was mentioned in many famous works of Chinese literature. The instances of same-sex affection and sexual interactions described in the classical novel Dream of the Red Chamber seem as familiar to observers in

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6820-481: The end of his reign, expanded the proscription to the active partner as well (in 558), warning that such conduct can lead to the destruction of cities through the "wrath of God". During the Renaissance , wealthy cities in northern Italy — Florence and Venice in particular—were renowned for their widespread practice of same-sex love, engaged in by a considerable part of the male population and constructed along

6930-425: The end of the 20th century, there has been a global movement towards freedom and equality for gay people, including the introduction of anti-bullying legislation to protect gay children at school, legislation ensuring non-discrimination, equal ability to serve in the military , equal access to health care , equal ability to adopt and parent , and the establishment of marriage equality . The word homosexual

7040-512: The epic, change genders, such as Shikhandi , who is sometimes said to be born as a female but identifies as male and eventually marries a woman. Bahuchara Mata is the goddess of fertility, worshipped by hijras as their patroness. Historians have long argued that pre-colonial Indian society did not criminalise same-sex relationships, nor did it view such relations as immoral or sinful. Hinduism has traditionally portrayed homosexuality as natural and joyful. The earliest Western documents (in

7150-579: The equality clause of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms . The federal Parliament and provincial legislatures began to amend their laws to treat same-sex relations in the same way as opposite-sex relations. Beginning in 2003, the courts in Canada began to rule that excluding same-sex couples from marriage violated the equality clause of the Charter . In 2005, the federal Parliament enacted

7260-404: The experiences they name are artifacts of unique cultural and social processes. "Essentialists" typically believe that sexual preferences are determined by biological forces, while "constructionists" assume that sexual desires are learned. The philosopher of science Michael Ruse has stated that the social constructionist approach, which is influenced by Foucault, is based on a selective reading of

7370-549: The fetal brain. There is no substantive evidence which suggests parenting or early childhood experiences play a role in developing a sexual orientation. Scientific research shows that homosexuality is a natural and normal variation in human sexuality and is not in and of itself a source of negative psychological effects. There is insufficient evidence to support the use of psychological interventions to change sexual orientation . The most common terms for homosexual people are lesbian for females and gay for males , but

7480-503: The figure of the Two-Spirit individual (the term itself was coined only in 1990). Typically, this individual was recognized early in life, given a choice by the parents to follow the path and, if the child accepted the role, raised in the appropriate manner, learning the customs of the gender it had chosen. Two-Spirit individuals were commonly shamans and were revered as having powers beyond those of ordinary shamans. Their sexual life

7590-458: The first successful case against non-consensual "normalizing" medical treatment. The surgeon was ordered to pay €100,000 in damages after a legal battle that began in 2007, thirty years after the removal of her reproductive organs. In 2015, Michaela Raab sued doctors in Nuremberg, Germany, who failed to properly advise her. Doctors stated that they "were only acting according to the norms of

7700-534: The form of literary works, art objects, and mythographic materials ) concerning same-sex relationships are derived from ancient Greece . In regard to male homosexuality, such documents depict an at times complex understanding in which relationships with women and relationships with adolescent boys could be a part of a normal man's love life. Same-sex relationships were a social institution variously constructed over time and from one city to another. The formal practice, an erotic yet often restrained relationship between

7810-842: The gay community "offers us a place of relative safety, it is also oblivious to our specific needs." Mauro Cabral has written that transgender people and organizations "need to stop approaching intersex issues as if they were trans issues" including use of intersex as a means of explaining being transgender; "we can collaborate a lot with the intersex movement by making it clear how wrong that approach is." Pidgeon Pagonis states that adding an I to LGBTQA may or may not help increase representation, and may increase funding opportunities for intersex organizations, but may also be harmful to intersex children due to stigma associated with being LGBTQA. Organisation Intersex International Australia states that some intersex individuals are same sex attracted, and some are heterosexual, but "LGBTI activism has fought for

7920-405: The gender change laws were strictly for transgender people. I decided to try and use the same framework to have a third gender ." Keenan later obtained a birth certificate with an intersex sex marker. In press reporting of this decision, it became apparent that Ohio had issued a 'hermaphrodite' sex marker in 2012. Intersex scholar Morgan Holmes argues that thinking of societies that incorporate

8030-812: The historical record that confuses the existence of homosexual people with the way in which they are labelled or treated. The first record of a possible homosexual couple in history is commonly regarded as Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum , an ancient Egyptian male couple, who lived around 2400 BCE. The pair are portrayed in a nose-kissing position, the most intimate pose in Egyptian art , surrounded by what appear to be their heirs. The anthropologists Stephen Murray and Will Roscoe reported that women in Lesotho engaged in socially sanctioned "long term, erotic relationships" called motsoalle . The anthropologist E. E. Evans-Pritchard also recorded that male Azande warriors in

8140-432: The idea of male anal sex being "unnatural" is described by a character of Plato 's, though he had earlier written of the benefits of homosexual relationships. Many historical figures, including Socrates , Lord Byron , Edward II , and Hadrian , have had terms such as gay or bisexual applied to them. Some scholars have regarded uses of such modern terms on people from the past as an anachronistic introduction of

8250-600: The initialisms LGBTIQ and LGTBIQ (in Spanish). Kimberly Zieselman of interACT has described how the LGBT community has helped open doors, but how intersex rights are broader: "at its core this is a children's rights issue. It is also about health and reproductive rights, because these operations can lead to infertility." Multiple authors and civil society organizations highlight intersectionalities between intersex people and disability, due to issues of medicalization, and

8360-422: The integrity of the person. Nevertheless, the organization has expressed concern that framings of intersex as disability can reinforce medicalization and lack of human rights, and do not match self-identification. Homosexuality Homosexuality is sexual attraction , romantic attraction , or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender . As a sexual orientation , homosexuality

8470-500: The issue of unnecessary "normalising" intersex medical interventions on intersex children, including by using the portmanteau pinkwashing . In a 2001 paper for the (now defunct) Intersex Society of North America , Emi Koyama and Lisa Weasel stating that teaching of intersex issues is "stuck" at talking about intersex as a mean instead of an end: This indeed seems to be a common problem within women's, gender and queer studies: discussions about intersex existence are "stuck" at where it

8580-426: The lack of freedom of choice regarding the entry in the gender marker field may now lead to an increase in stigmatisation and to "forced outings" of those children whose sex remains undetermined. This has raised the concern that the law may also lead to an increase in pressure on parents of intersex children to decide in favour of one sex. In June 2016, Germany's High Court ruled that German law would not allow entry of

8690-548: The last Englishmen to be so hanged. To this day, historians are still arguing about the question of the Sexuality of Frederick the Great (1712−1786), which essentially revolves around the taboo of whether the myth of one of the greatest war heroes in world history is allowed to be psychologically deconstructed. Between 1864 and 1880 Karl Heinrich Ulrichs published a series of 12 tracts, which he collectively titled Research on

8800-423: The law, saying that "instead of individuals deciding for themselves at maturity, decisions concerning sex assignment are made in infancy by physicians and parents." Many intersex advocates in Germany and elsewhere have suggested that the law might encourage surgical interventions, rather than reduce them. The Council of Europe Issue Paper on intersex restates these concerns: Human rights practitioners fear that

8910-532: The law. The 12th-century canon law collection known as the Decretum Gratiani states that "Whether a hermaphrodite may witness a testament, depends on which sex prevails" ("Hermaphroditus an ad testamentum adhiberi possit, qualitas sexus incalescentis ostendit."). On ordainment, Raming, Macy and Cook found that the Decretum Gratiani states, "item Hermafroditus. If therefore the person

9020-556: The medieval Tang dynasty (618–907), attributed to the rising influence of Christian and Islamic values, but did not become fully established until the Westernization efforts of the late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China . South Asia has a recorded and verifiable history of homosexuality going back to at least 1200 BC. Hindu medical texts written in India from this period document homosexual acts and attempt to explain

9130-534: The natives to depict them as savages and hence justify their conquest and forceful conversion to Christianity. As a result of the growing influence and power of the conquerors, many native cultures started condemning homosexual acts themselves. Among some of the indigenous peoples of the Americas in North America prior to European colonization, a relatively common form of same-sex sexuality centered around

9240-576: The northern Congo routinely took on young male lovers between the ages of twelve and twenty, who helped with household tasks and participated in intercrural sex with their older husbands. As is true of many other non-Western cultures, it is difficult to determine the extent to which Western notions of sexual orientation and gender identity apply to Pre-Columbian cultures. Evidence of homoerotic sexual acts and transvestism has been found in many pre- conquest civilizations in Latin America , such as

9350-478: The opposite sex. During the colonial period, both the French and the British criminalised same-sex sexual relations. Anal sex between males was a capital offence. Post-Confederation, anal sex and acts of "gross indecency" continued to be criminal offences, but were no longer capital offences. Individuals were prosecuted for same-sex sexual activity as late as the 1960s, which led to the federal Parliament amending

9460-523: The present as do equivalent stories of romances between heterosexual people during the same period. Ming dynasty literature, such as Bian Er Chai (弁而釵/弁而钗), portray homosexual relationships between men as more enjoyable and more "harmonious" than heterosexual relationships. Writings from the Liu Song dynasty by Wang Shunu claimed that homosexuality was as common as heterosexuality in the late 3rd century. Opposition to homosexuality in China originates in

9570-467: The probable reason is that they keep their sexuality a secret for fear of government sanction or rejection by their families. In ancient Sumer , a set of priests known as gala worked in the temples of the goddess Inanna , where they performed elegies and lamentations. Gala took female names, spoke in the eme-sal dialect, which was traditionally reserved for women, and appear to have engaged in homosexual intercourse. The Sumerian sign for gala

9680-510: The purpose of preventing the development of homosexuality, quite apart from the ethical issues involved. In 2010, Saroj Nimkarn and Maria New wrote that, "Gender-related behaviors, namely childhood play, peer association, career and leisure time preferences in adolescence and adulthood, maternalism, aggression, and sexual orientation become" masculinized in women with congenital adrenal hyperplasia . Medical intervention to prevent such traits has been likened by Dreger , Feder and Tamar-Mattis to

9790-487: The receptive role in sex. The Hellenophile emperor Hadrian is renowned for his relationship with Antinous , but the Christian emperor Theodosius I decreed a law on 6 August 390, condemning passive males to be burned at the stake. Notwithstanding these regulations taxes on brothels with boys available for homosexual sex continued to be collected until the end of the reign of Anastasius I in 518. Justinian , towards

9900-438: The rhetorical shift remains deeply contentious. Sociological research in Australia, published in 2016, found that 3% of respondents used the term "disorders of sex development" or "DSD" to define their sex characteristics, while 21% use the term when accessing medical services. In contrast, 60% used the term "intersex" in some form to self-describe their sex characteristics. In the United States , intersex persons are protected by

10010-819: The rights of people who fall outside of expected binary sex and gender norms." On July 1, 2020, Russian intersex organizations (Interseks.ru, ARSI, NFP+, Intersex Russia ) issued a statement on the use of LGBTI abbreviation urging not to use it in and about countries with widespread prejudice and violence in attitudes of individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. Emi Koyama describes how inclusion of intersex in LGBTI can fail to address intersex-specific human rights issues, including creating false impressions "that intersex people's rights are protected" by laws protecting LGBT people, and failing to acknowledge that many intersex people are not LGBT. South Africa protects intersex people from discrimination as part of

10120-535: The spring of 1999, Heike Bödeker coined the term endosex , as an opposite or antonym for the term intersex. The organization Intersexuelle Menschen first submitted a Shadow Report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in July 2008, detailing human rights violations in medical settings and failures to act in the best interests of

10230-670: The term gay also commonly refers to both homosexual females and males. Other common labels that include gay people are LGBTQ and queer . The percentage of people who are gay or lesbian and the proportion of people who are in same-sex romantic relationships or have had same-sex sexual experiences are difficult for researchers to estimate reliably for a variety of reasons, including many gay and lesbian people not openly identifying as such due to prejudice or discrimination such as homophobia and heterosexism . Homosexual behavior has also been documented in many non-human animal species , though humans are one of only two species known to exhibit

10340-459: The term is "frequently used by anti-gay extremists to denigrate gay people, couples and relationships". Some scholars argue that the term "homosexuality" is problematic when applied to ancient cultures since, for example, neither Greeks or Romans possessed any one word covering the same semantic range as the modern concept of "homosexuality". Nor did there exist a distinction of lifestyle or differentiation of psychological or behavioral profiles in

10450-511: The time - which sought to protect patients against the psychosocial effects of learning the full truth about their chromosomes". On 17 December 2015, the Nuremberg State Court ruled that the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Clinic must pay damages and compensation. In November 2013, Germany became the first European country to allow "indeterminate" sex, requiring this where a child may not be assigned male or female. This

10560-459: The time of the medical interventions. There appear to be no statutory provisions offering compensation, however, at a hearing of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in February 2017, the German government said that a compensation fund for victims of intersex genital mutilation is under discussion. In Germany in 2011, Christiane Völling won what may be

10670-583: The treatment of intersex children". A law that provides for a general ban on operations in children and adolescents with 'variations of sex development' ('Varianten der Geschlechtsentwicklung') was passed in the German parliament on 25 March 2021. According to a report in the Deutsches Ärzteblatt , the law is intended to strengthen the self-determined decision-making of children and adolescents and avoid possible damage to their health. Surgical changes to sex characteristics should only take place - even with

10780-403: The ubiquity of homosexuality and its association with intellectual and artistic achievement. Although medical texts like these (written partly in Latin to obscure the sexual details) were not widely read by the general public, they did lead to the rise of Magnus Hirschfeld 's Scientific-Humanitarian Committee , which campaigned from 1897 to 1933 against anti-sodomy laws in Germany , as well as

10890-467: The upper class of persists and monks, and religious codes of foreign religions such as Christianity and Islam imposed homophobic rules on their populations. Hinduism describes a third gender that is equal to other genders and documentation of the third gender are found in ancient Hindu and Buddhist medical texts. There are certain characters in the Mahabharata who, according to some versions of

11000-433: The use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis . In an analysis of the use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis to eliminate intersex traits, Behrmann and Ravitsky state: "Parental choice against intersex may ... conceal biases against same-sex attractedness and gender nonconformity." A 2006 clinical reframing of intersex conditions as disorders of sex development made associations between intersex and disability explicit, but

11110-734: Was a ligature of the signs for "penis" and "anus". One Sumerian proverb reads: "When the gala wiped off his ass [he said], 'I must not arouse that which belongs to my mistress [i.e., Inanna].'" In later Mesopotamian cultures, kurgarrū and assinnu were servants of the goddess Ishtar (Inanna's East Semitic equivalent), who dressed in female clothing and performed war dances in Ishtar's temples. Several Akkadian proverbs seem to suggest that they may have also engaged in homosexual intercourse. Intersex rights in Germany – in Europe  (light green & dark grey) – in

11220-491: Was approved by the Bundestag in December 2018. On 22 December 2018, the adopted act entered into force, allowing the choice for intersex people (both at birth and at a later age) between "female", "male", "diverse" and no gender marker at all. In case of a change later in life, first names can also be changed. In the meantime, an appeals court had held that a nonbinary status must also be open to non-intersex non-binary people;

11330-459: Was criticised by intersex rights groups on the basis that it could encourage parents who see a neutral option as undesirable to have their child undergo genital surgery. In 2013, the third International Intersex Forum made statements for the first time on sex and gender registration in the Malta declaration , advocating for "register[ing] intersex children as females or males, with the awareness that, like all people, they may grow up to identify with

11440-504: Was criticized by intersex civil society organizations such as OII Germany and Zwischengeschlecht who argued that "if a child's anatomy does not, in the view of physicians, conform to the category of male or the category of female, there is no option but to withhold the male or female labels given to all other children." The German Ethics Council and the Swiss National Advisory Commission also criticized

11550-444: Was described as the first complete and comprehensive intersex surgery and hormone treatment on a patient with both ovarian and testicular tissue, at the University of Marburg . The female patient was described as fully functional after surgery and, starting in 1934, spontaneously menstruated . During Nazi rule in Germany, many intersex people were either killed or hidden from the public. German athlete Dora Ratjen competed in

11660-440: Was facilitated by "prenatal exposure to and utilization of androgens." He concluded: It is too early to conclude that there is a pre- or perinatal hormonal contribution to the development of homosexuality, except perhaps in persons with clearcut physical signs of intersexuality. The scientific basis is insufficient to justify the assessment of chromosomes and sex hormones in the fetus, or the prenatal treatment with sex hormones, for

11770-456: Was published in 1723 in England, and is presumed by some modern scholars to be a novel. The 1749 edition of John Cleland 's popular novel Fanny Hill includes a homosexual scene, but this was removed in its 1750 edition. Also in 1749, the earliest extended and serious defense of homosexuality in English, Ancient and Modern Pederasty Investigated and Exemplified , written by Thomas Cannon ,

11880-589: Was published, but was suppressed almost immediately. It includes the passage, "Unnatural Desire is a Contradiction in Terms; downright Nonsense. Desire is an amatory Impulse of the inmost human Parts." Around 1785 Jeremy Bentham wrote another defense, but this was not published until 1978. Executions for sodomy continued in the Netherlands until 1803, and in England until 1835, James Pratt and John Smith being

11990-471: Was subsequently passed to assign infants who could not be determined as male or female to a de facto third classification. Research published by Ulrike Klöppel at the Humboldt University in December 2016 shows that, over the period 2005 to 2014, there were no significant trends in numbers of intersex medical interventions . An average of 99 feminizing surgeries took place each year, with

12100-570: Was with the ordinary tribe members of the same sex. During the colonial times following the European invasion, homosexuality was prosecuted by the Inquisition , sometimes leading to death sentences on the charges of sodomy, and the practices became clandestine. Many homosexual individuals went into heterosexual marriages to maintain appearances, and many joined the (unmarried) Catholic clergy to escape public scrutiny of their lack of interest in

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