Gay couples in history

Whether they found romance in ancient Egypt or a s salon, the history of queer people and their lovers is rich with devotion, betrayal, and activism. Various types of same-sex unions have existed, ranging from informal, unsanctioned relationships to highly ritualized unions. Same-sex unions were known in Ancient Greece and Rome, [4] ancient Mesopotamia, [5] in some regions of China and at certain times in ancient European history.

[6]. For hundreds of years gay people have struggled to be accepted and treated the same as people who are not gay. In fact it wasn't until , that two men were able to be in a relationship. Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum are believed by some to be the first recorded same-sex couple in history. The two were servants of the royal court and acted as manicurists for King Unas, an. Michael McConnell and Jack Baker [3] [4] are the first same sex couple in modern recorded history [5] known to obtain a marriage license, [6] have their marriage solemnized, which occurred on September 3, , in Minnesota, [7] and have it legally recognized by any form of government.

Even Central High School's red, white, and pink spirit is shown this year with heart balloons, bouquets, and candy grams. To celebrate the holiday this year, I wanted to highlight stories of love that have long gotten pushed to the sidelines or erased from history due to not fitting the norms of society. These are accounts of those who dared to live outside the boxes they were put into. Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum Around to B.

C, 5th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum are believed by some to be the first recorded same-sex couple in history. The two were servants of the royal court and acted as manicurists for King Unas, an honored position.

While not much is known about their lives, their deaths have caused controversy in Eygptologist circles for years. Their tomb was discovered in near the famous Step Pyramid outside of Cairo. Throughout the tomb, images of the couple carved in stone depicted them embracing each other, their bodies intertwined. Others showed them holding hands or facing nose-to-nose, a tradition called nose-kissing which was the favored form of kissing in ancient Egypt and marked the dead as married couples.

Khnumhotep is pictured in the place that denotes a wife in many of the images. When the tomb was first discovered, the immediate statement was that they were brothers though it was unlikely that the bond between brothers would be placed above that between a husband and wife or their children and later consensuses proclaimed them conjoined twins though they were never depicted to be joined to each other in one spot and their positions on each side frequently switched or close friends.

However, partially due to San Francisco Egyptologist Greg Reeder, who helped pioneer the conclusion that the two were a couple more and more people are beginning to believe that there was a romantic relationship between the two. Reeder stated. It is generally agreed that while most emperors in the Han Dynasty were married to women, they also took on male lovers, and Emperor Ai of China was no exception.

Dong Xian was a year-old minor official in his royal court. The two began a romantic relationship in 4 B. E, and Dong and his wife moved into the imperial palace quickly after.

first gay couple in history

Anyone who objected to these promotions was severely punished as shown by palace secretary-general, Zheng Chong, being arrested and dying in prison, and Sun Bao being stripped of his station not for opposing Dong Xian, but for attempting to free Zheng Chong. Emperor Ai requested a lavish residence of equal standing to his own palace to be constructed for Dong and his wife along with a tomb for Dong right beside his own.

He regularly gifted the most expensive jewelry in the imperial treasury and the best weapons in the army. While all previous Han rulers produced heirs despite relationships with men, Ai never had children with his empress. Wanting to get up but not wanting to wake Dong, Emperor Ai cut off his own sleeve to allow his partner to keep sleeping.

Allegedly, after ministers found out about this act, a fashion trend was started. He was born on the plantation of a woman named Ann Muray and lived there until Union soldiers arrived in the winter of and after the Civil War, his parents were able to buy a farm. Pierce Lafayette was born enslaved in Georgia by Alexander H. Stephens, the vice of the Confederate States of America. During the s and 90s, Swann organized some of the earliest drag balls in history in Washington D.

These events were very secretive with invitations being made in places like the YMCA. On April 13, , the Washington Post published an article detailing the events of a police raid where Swann and 12 others were arrested while in drag during suppertime. In , Swann was wrongly convicted for holding balls on a false charge of running a brothel.