Historical Timeline of Same-Sex Relationships

“We’ve always been here”

You can “hear” their voices throughout all of history if you listen. Carved on rocks, sketched in caves, written in poems, they have always been here. Sometimes people claim that being gay is “a new thing,” a modern invention, or the result of cultural decay. But history tells a different story.

Same sex relationships or activity has been documented among all cultures and all over the world dating back thousands of years. For a detailed timeline scroll down, but here are a few examples of things that have been documented:

  • Paintings in caves that date back before 2500 BCE
  • Figures carved on tombs that date back to 2400 BCE
  • Records that confirm King of Babylon from 1775 BCE had male lovers
  • A 630 BCE inscription from Crete of the Greek practice of older men and younger boys
  • Documents showing the public same sex relationships of Chinese royalty from 534 BCE
  • Scultpures from 400 BCE that depicted same sex activity
  • 385 BCE Plato says that love between males is the highest form, while sex with women is only lustful and utilitarian.
  • 330 BCE Bagoas was King Darius III “catamite” (boy salve for sexual purposes) and then becomes catamite to King Alexander III of Macedon.
  • 300 BCE Under Shintoism (Japan’s oldest religion), same-sex relationships were common, appearing in much of ancient Japanese literature, art and historical records. 
  • 67 CE Nero tragically forces a slave boy to marry him, forces him to wear female clothing and castrates him, a public display of his out of control sexual excesses and horrified even the Romans. 
  • 79 CE Same sex art found in Pompeii.
  • 1476 Leonardo da Vinci arrested and charged for “homosexuality”.  
  • 1564 Michelangelo dies and leaves behind poems to his male lover.

History Timeline

Below is a timeline of documented historical accounts on this topic

  • Before 3000 BCE Paintings dating back to before the 30th century BCE, were found on a Mesolithic rock in the Grotta Dell Adduara in Sicily. They depict male-male sex of Shamans in sacrificial rituals.
  • 2400 BCE Figures of two men carved on a tomb, holding hands and embracing, a level of intimacy not typically seen between brothers in Egyptian art, but rather usually depicted between man-woman lovers in that day. Sharing a tomb was usually reserved for spouses or lovers, further suggesting a close bond. The first one named “Khnumhotep” (meaning “Khnum is satisfied”) and the second named “Niankhkhnum” (meaning “life belonging to Khnum”), signifying a deep connection.
  • 2300 BCE It is believed that priests and priestesses in the temples of Ishtar (ancient Middle East) were bisexual and transgender. The Mesopotamian Almanac of Incantations includes prayers for both opposite sex and same sex unions. The Mesopotamian goddess of love, sex, andwar was known for her ability to transform men into women and women into men. Men who became priests of Ishtar were known to have same-sex relationships.
  • 1775 BCE -1761 BCE King Zimri-Lim of the Kingdom of Mari (King of Babylon, modern day Syria), is recorded to have had male lovers.  
  • 630 BCE An inscription from Crete is the oldest record of the social institution of pederasty among the Greeks, formal sexual relations between adult aristocrats and adolescent boys. Lifelong relationships would sometimes form out of these. 
  • 612 BCE Sappho, a Greek lyric female poet born on the island of Lesbos, was famous for her lesbian themes, giving her name and that of her homeland to the very definition of lesbianism (and the lesser used term of “sapphism”).  
  • 534 BCE Duke Ling of Wey and Mizi Xia (China) were known for a same-sex relationship, out of which various plays and stories have commemorated their love story.
  • 530 BCE Wall paintings from the Etruscan Tomb of the Bulls (Italy) found in 1892 depict same-sex activity.
  • 486 BCE Darius the Great (Darius I Hystaspes, the third Persian emperor, the one that threw Daniel into the lions den), enacted the first state-sanctioned death penalty for male same-sex activity for Persian Jews in the Achaemenid Empire.
  • 400 BCE – 200 BCE: Sculptures on temples and artwork from around 500 BC in Lanka depict same-sex activity.
  • 350 BCE: Vatsyayana’s Kama Sutra devotes an entire chapter to same-sex sexual positions with explicit detailed instructions.
  • 385 BCE Plato publishes Symposium in which Phaedrus, Eryximachus, Aristophanes and other Greek intellectuals argue that love between males is the highest form, while sex with women is lustful and utilitarian.
  • 350 BCE Plato publishes Laws in which the Athenian stranger and his companions criticize same-sex relationships as being lustful and wrong for society because it does not further the species.
  • 346 BCE Aeschines’ speech Against Timarchus, who was on trial for male prostitution.
  • 338 BCE The Sacred Band of Thebes, a previously undefeated elite battalion made up of one hundred and fifty pederastic couples (older men and young boys), is destroyed by the forces of Philip II of Macedon.
  • 330 BCE Bagoas, favorite catamite (boy slave) to King Darius III, then becomes catamite to King Alexander III of Macedon.
  • 300 BCE Under Shintoism (Japan’s oldest religion), there were few sexual inhibitions. Same-sex relationships were common, appearing in much of ancient Japanese literature, art and historical records. 
  • 300s BCE The belief that women were only fertile ground for the seed of a baby and that the male sperm contained everything needed for a whole baby. The woman was just carrying and growing it. Having a boy was a good thing. Having a girl was of lesser value.
  • 227 – 149 BCE During the Roman Republic, it was common and allowed for an adult male citizen to desire and engage in same-sex relations was considered natural and socially acceptable, as long as his partner was a prostitute, slave or someone of bad reputation. If the passive male partner was not a prostitute, slave, or of bad reputation, the Lex Scantinia law imposed penalties on those normal males from society who willingly took the passive role in homosexual relations.
  • 200s BCE The first ten emperors of the Han dynasty were openly bisexual, having a favorite male companion as well as their wives.
  • 54 BCE Catullus writes the Carmina, including love poems to Juventius, boasting of sexual prowess with youth.
  • 39 BCE Virgil writes the Eclogues, with Eclogue 2 an example of same-sex erotic Latin literature.
  • 27 BCE The first recorded same-sex marriage occurs in the Roman Empire under the rule of August, an extremely rare occurence.
  • 5 –15 CE The Warren Cup is made, a Roman silver drinking cup decorated in relief with two images of male same-sex acts.
  • 67 CE Nero forces a slave boy to marry him, forces him to wear female clothing and castrates him, a public display of his out of control sexual excesses and horrified even the Romans. 
  • 79 CE Erotic art, including representations of male-male and female-female sex, found in Pompeii archeological site.
  • 98 CE Trajan, one of the most beloved of Roman emperors, was well known for his homosexuality and liking young boys.
  • 200 CE Sextus Empiricus writes in “Outlines of Pyrrhonism” that amongst the Persians it was the habit to “indulge in intercourse with males…… amongst us sodomy is regarded as shameful or rather illegal, but by the Germanic, it is not looked on as shameful but as a customary thing. It is said, too, that in Thebes long ago this practice was not held to be shameful, …And what wonder, when both the adherents of the Cynic philosophy and the followers of Zeno of Citium, Cleanthes and Chrysippus, declare that this practice is indifferent.”
  • 193 – 211 CE Roman emperor Septimius Severus prescribed capital punishment for same-sex rape throughout the Roman Empire.
  • 218 – 222 CE Roman emperor Elagabalus marries five women and a man named Zoticus, but the most serious relationship is with the chariot driver Hierocles. It is documented that the emperor wore makeup and wigs, prefers to be called a lady and not a lord, and offered vast sums to any physician who can provide them a vagina; for this reason, the emperor is seen by some writers as an early transgender figure and one of the first on record as seeking sex reassignment surgery.
  • 800 CE Vikings had Norse myths and sagas that accepted of same-sex relationships among gods and heroes.
  • 1050 Peter Damian is the first one to turn the word “sodomy” into meaning “sexual sin”, which to him was sexual activity that could not procreate. Before this, the word among the Jews used to mean “those who are selfish with their wealth”.
  • 1061: A same-sex marriage between the two men Pedro Díaz and Muño Vandilaz in the Galician municipality of Rairiz de Veiga in Spain occurred on 16 April. They were married by a priest at a small chapel. The historic documents about the church wedding were found at Monastery of San Salvador de Celanova.
  • 1200s: Evidence and texts show same-sex relationships were common in Ecuador before the Spanish brought catholicism to the country.   
  • 1300s Catholic groups were preoccupied in stamping out all heretics, with a special assignment to “identify homosexuals”. Disasters (such as the black plague) were blamed on them (similar to Rev Jerry Falwell blaming 9/11 on homosexuals).
  • 1403 Isaach Salamó, a Jew, is burned in Perpignan (Catalunia, Spain) “for homosexuality”.
  • 1432-1502 Florence: around 17,000 men (in a city of only 40,000) were investigated for sodomy; 3,000 were convicted (punishments included fines, exile, or execution) and thousands more confessed to gain amnesty.
  • 1492 Roman Catholic missionaries called the Jesuits (a religious order of priests) , travelled across the globe during the era of European colonialism. One of their main teachings was the death penalty for any same-sex activity, relationships or behavior. This was a big turning point on the history for countries around the world, which went from accepting same sex relationships and transgender people in the community to cruel punishments. some burnt at the stake, some hanged, some mutilated in front of the town, pole strangling.
  • 1521 The year that life changed for the baklâ people in the Philippines (the term used to describe a person who is sexually attracted to people of the same sex), when the first European ship arrived in the island. The Catholic leaders not only persecuted women and changed the culture norms to subdue them, but the bakla were suddenly being sentenced to death without legal representation, facing ridicule, and persecution.  
  • 1593 Allegro Orsini, a Jew, is beheaded with Ottaviano Bargellini, a member of a senatorial family, in Bologna, italy, for “homosexuality”.
  • 1564 Michelangelo dies and leaves behind poems to his male lover. His nephew changed the poems to a female pronoun to protect his name, but the real ones were discovered 200 years later. They have now been brought to public light. Artists say that his same-sex attraction would explain why he was really good at depicting the man’s body in his paintings and statues, but not women. He wasn’t good at women’s anatomy and didn’t know it well. Another common depiction in his paintings are of an older mature man reaching out or protecting a younger male one.
  • 1500s Records of same sex relationships in the Shang Dynasty in China trace back to the Shang Dynasty. Same-sex relationships were seen with indifference.  
  • 1610 The Virginia Colony establishes sodomy as a capital crime; other American colonies follow suit.
  • 1672 The Life and Struggles of Wälättä P̣eṭros is the first reference of same-sex relationships between nuns in Ethiopian literature.
  • 1730 National persecution in Holland now called “The Dutch Purge of Homosexuals“, Death by strangling was the most common punishment, but other punishments during this purge included hanging and drowning in a barrel of water.
  • 1800s Women were of less value, so to take the place of a woman in a sexual act was the most demeaning thing a man could do.  
  • 1800s “Boston marriage” was the term used for two unmarried who lived together. Women who refused to hide their attraction to other women were frequently diagnosed as mentally ill.  
  • 1810 The Napoleon Penal Code decriminalized sodomy in most of Continental Europe.
  • 1835 James Pratt and John Smith became the last people to be executed for sodomy in England after being arrested when someone saw them through a keyhole allegedly having “carnal knowledge” of each other in a room.  
  • 1861 Same-sex activity and relationships suddenly convicted in India, after years of it being documented as a normal part of society.
  • 1700s London same-sex men clubs and activity everywhere and public.
  • 1867 Karl Heinrich Ulrichs is the first person to publicly declare his same-sex attraction public and used the word name “urning.  He derived the term from the Greek goddess Aphrodite Urania, who was created from the semen of the god Uranus, representing love between men.
  • 1868 First German usage of “homosexual” and “heterosexual”, in a letter from Karl Maria Kertbeny to Karl Ulrichs.
  • 1885  The Criminal Law Amendment Act in the United Kingdom made “gross indecency” between men a crime. This law was used to prosecute intimacy between men, even when sodomy could not be proven.
  • 1895 Oscar Wilde convicted of “homosexual acts” and sentenced to hard labor prison. Died just after being freed of meningitis caused by ongoing unresolved cholesteatoma.
  • 1901 “The Social Problem of Sexual Inversion” book published by Magnus Hirschfeld, a prominent German sexologist, which focused on “the social implications of homosexuality”. He argued that it was a natural variation in human sexuality and not a moral wrong. He stood for societal acceptance and legal reform for same-sex relationships. This book is considered a landmark text in the early history of LGBTQ+ rights activism.
  • 1901: Two women named Marcela Gracia and Elisa Sánchez are able to get legally married in A Coruña, Spain. To achieve it, Elisa adopted a male identity under the name Mario Sánchez to marry Marcela and thus they were able to fool the authorities. The truth eventually broke out and their case appeared in many newspapers throughout Europe, so they had to escape to the Americas to avoid being arrested.
  • 1920 “The Psychogenesis of a Case of Homosexuality in a Woman” by Sigmund Freud, was his analysis of an 18 year old woman who attempted suicide after psychoanalytic treatment. She had been put into therapy by her parents to be cured from lesbianism.
  • 1924 Henry Gerber and six friends establish the Society for Human Rights, the first “American homosexual rights organization”.
  • 1935 Sigmund Freud states in his “Letter to an American Mother” that, “Homosexuality is nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation; it cannot be classified as an illness.”
  • 1953 First volume of ONE Magazine: “The Homosexual Viewpoint”, the first pro-gay journal of its kind. Its serves as an important source for pre-Stonewall homophile studies.
  • 1955 Daughters of Bilitis founded in San Francisco, the first lesbian rights group in the United States. They later began publishing The Ladder in 1956, becoming the first nationally distributed lesbian periodical in the United States.
  • 1957 British Wolfenden Commission recommends “decriminalization of homosexuality”.
  • 1969 June 28 – July 3 The Stonewall Inn riots in New York’s Greenwich Village ignites a radical LGBTQ rights movement.
  • 1973 Board of Trustees (BOT) of the American Psychological Association approves the deletion of the word “homosexuality” from the DSM-II and substitutes a diagnosis of “Sexual Orientation Disturbance” (which was not removed until 1987)
  • 1985 Establishment of the Association of Gay and Lesbian Psychiatrists
  • 1982 U.S. Centers for Disease Control adopt the name Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) regarding the immunodeficiency syndrome that was spreading. French virologist Luc Montagnier isolates LAV (lymphadenopathy-associated virus) as the causative agent of AIDS, while American virologist Robert Gallo isolates HTLV-III (human T-cell lymphotropic virus type III) as the causative agent of AIDS
  • 1985 – 1992 Just in the United States over 300,000 men died from AIDS. Gay men accounted for 66% of the HIV infections, with men of color being at greater risk (some think due to lack of care or access to care). Researchers comment that gay men were at higher risk possibly due to: unprotected sex, didn’t seek help due to social homophobia, and men were more likely to use drugs at the time.
  • 1987 President Ronald Reagan speaks publicly about AIDS for the first time.
  • 1993 President Bill Clinton‘s unsuccessful effort to end discrimination against gays in the military.
  • 1996 US Supreme Court calls Colorado’s antigay Amendment unconstitutional (this amendment nullified civil rights protections for gays).
  • 1996 US congress passes Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a law signed by President Clinton, and prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.
  • 2000 Vermont becomes first US state to offer gay people civil unions.
  • 2000 American Psychological Association issues two position statements, one in support of same sex civil unions and the other asking ethical psychiatrists to refrain from practicing conversion or “reparative therapies”.
  • 2001 The Netherlands becomes the first country to legalize marriage equality.
  • 2002 American Academy of Pediatrics issues position statement in support of second parent adoptions for same-sex couples; American Psychological Association follows with a similar position statement.
  • 2003 US Supreme Court calls “sodomy laws” in the 13 states unconstitutional (these laws criminalized consensual, adult homosexual behavior).
  • 2003 Belgium legalizes marriage equality.
  • 2004 American Psychological Association issues positions statement in support of marriage equality.
  • 2006 Israel recognizes gay marriages if they were performed in other countries.
  • 2012 The American branch of Conservative Judaism approved same-sex marriage ceremonies.
  • 2012 U.S. President Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to publicly endorse same-sex marriage.
  • 2013 U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in a landmark ruling, granting federal recognition to same-sex marriages.
  • 2013 Brazil legalized marriage equality.  
  • 2013 Russia passed a controversial law banning the promotion of “gay propaganda” to minors, increased censorship and crackdowns on LGBTQ events.
  • 2015 U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.  
  • 2015 Ireland became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote, marking a historic moment for LGBTQ+ rights.
  • 2016 Orlando Pulse Shooting on June 12, 2016, when a gunman opened fire in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 people and injuring dozens more. The attack, which targeted the LGBTQ+ community, led to widespread mourning and calls for stronger protections against hate crimes.
  • 2016 India decriminalizes Same-Sex Acts 
  • 2016 Taiwan legalizes Same-Sex Marriage, although the first same-sex weddings were not celebrated until May 2019.
  • 2017 Australia legalizes Same-Sex Marriage.  
  • 2017 Various regions of Poland began declaring themselves “LGBT-free zones,” triggering international condemnation and escalating the visibility of LGBTQ+ struggles in Eastern Europe.
  • 2018 Same-Sex Marriage Legalized in Germany.  
  • 2021 The EU increased its pressure on Poland over its “LGBT-free zones” and anti-LGBTQ+ policies and several Polish cities reversed the LGBT-free zone proclamations.
  • 2021 Hungary passed a law banning the depiction of LGBTQ+ content in schools and media. 
  • 2021 Qatar’s laws LGBTQ banning created controversy ahead of the 2022 World Cup.  
  • 2022 Chile legalized same-sex marriage. 
  • 2023 United States saw an increase in state-level restrictions on LGBTQ+ rights 
  • 2023 Uganda passed the “Anti-Homosexuality Act” in 2023, imposing severe punishments.
  • 2024 Events:
    • Estonia legalizes same-sex marriage.
    • Gabriel Attal is appointed Prime Minister of France, becoming the country’s first openly gay head of government.
    • Greece legalizes same-sex marriages.
    • Alberta (Canada) bans pride flags.
    • Ghana passes a widespread anti-LGBT bill making the promotion or advocacy of LGBT rights punishable by five years in prison.
    • Thailand legalizes same-sex marriages.
    • Dominica decriminalizes homosexual acts.
    • Iraq criminalizes same-sex relationships, to be punishable by a maximum of 15 years in prison.
    • The United Methodist Church allows same-sex marriages in their churches.
    • Australia removes books about same-sex parenting in council libraries, and then repeals it.
    • Namibia decriminalizes homosexual acts.
    • Aruba and Curaçao legalizes same-sex marriage.
    • Bulgaria bans the teaching of LGBTQ related topics in schools.
    • India declares that persons from the LGBTQ community face no restrictions in opening joint bank accounts or nominating their partners as beneficiaries.
    • Mali outlaws homosexuality.
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