What civilizations have officially sanctioned gay marriage?

[wacki]

This may be more of a history topic, but I heard from a very knowledgable person that no civilization in history has officially sanctioned gay marriage. Is this true? The Romans had alot of homosexuality but it was not officially sanctioned, it was still taboo. He mentioned something about the Spartans, but I didn't quite catch it.

Please do not turn this into a morality thread. We have a ton of those on gay marriage. This is to be a history only thread.

[MelchyBeau]

I am not sure about the official terminology but the Souix and Cheyenne had a type of gay marriage, it was really a transvestite marriage. These were called berdaches.
Same sex marriages were also recognized in Ancient Egypt.
It was accepted in several ancient cultures.

Melch

[cardcounter0]

What civilizations ever embraced a democractic form of government imposed upon it by an outside invading force?

[Stu Pidasso]

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What civilizations ever embraced a democractic form of government imposed upon it by an outside invading force?

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Off the top of my head,

Japan and Germany.

Cardcounter, why do you feel the need to hijack this thread anyways?

Stu

[cardcounter0]

hmmmm....

Germany was split, and required the cooperation of all of Europe.

Japan required two atomic bombs.

Please go back to the somewhat new invention of marriage, and the nuclear family unit.

[tolbiny]

As i understand it the Spartans either encouraged or tolerated homosexual relationships within the army. They actually forbid men from seeing thier wives for extended periods of time (obviously many snuck out)- and appeared to feel that sexual relationships between the men would make for a stronger more cohesive army.
The romans at times have had part of their coming of age ceremony for boys include a sexual encounter with a male adult relative.
Both of these tidbits are from history channel episodes that i haven't seen in a while, but i think i remember them correctly.
Neither of them directly relate to marrige though.

[ACPlayer]

Big difference between an invading force and countries that were the aggressors and got beat.

[Cyrus]

Most of warrior tribes of the past had a homosexual undercurrent in their culture.

Spartans, Ottomans, Mongols, etc.

And the point was not just the long hours among men (and the resulting need to relieve oneself) or sexual pleasure as such. It was also, if not mainly, the element of subordination (crudely put, of the pecking order) that was established through the practice. You get buttfucked, I'm lording over yer ass, figuratively and literally.

We run new recruits through a bit of serious hazing for the same purpose.

[Cyrus]

The original question in this thread is a con. A good con but a con nevertheless.

Human morality has advanced. We made advances in the last decades even - and not just centuries. Once upon a time, slavery was officially sanctioned. Eugenics was officially sanctioned (yes, even in the United States!). Child whipping was officially sanctioned. Raping the wife was officially sanctioned.

And those samples are only in the 'social' part of the paradigm. If we were to go over to the 'political' paradigm we'd find that censorship was officially sanctioned, the Monarch-as-God was the law of the land, etc.

Once upon a time, abortion was forbidden. Mixed-race marriages were forbidden. Marrying out of love was frowned upon and you were supposed to marry the girl/boy your parents designated for you. Pre-marital sex could put you in jail. And so on. And so forth.

So don't be taken in by the con!

Any man who wants us to judge if something is morally right or wrong on the basis only of our ancestors' morality is either a con man or an ignorant, backward idiot. Take your pick.

[adios]

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The original question in this thread is a con. A good con but a con nevertheless.

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It's not a con. It's a let's compare the results from previous experience request. In short it's a request for information. If there is no history to draw comparisons from so be it.