From Homosapiens to Homosexuals

Homosexuality is behavior of choosing a partner of the same sexual interaction. The term homosexual is used to characterize individuals who prefer romantic attachments and sexual interaction with the same sex and typically are maximally aroused by same sex erotic imagery. The word is used to describe both males and females.



There are many terms that are used to describe homosexuals. First, “Homo” is short for homosexual and the first part of the word means “same”. The term queer is used to denote something different or odd. The term lesbian is referred to females and originally referred to the people from the Greek Island of Lesbos, where the poet Sappho lived. Sappho wrote poems about love between women, which led to gay women to be called lesbians. Some derogatory or insulting terms for homosexuals are faggot, fag, queer, dyke, and lesbo. The term faggot came from the word fagot, which is a stick of wood used to start a fire. During the Middle Ages, gay people were considered dangerous and sometimes burned at the stake.



Homosexuality has always been apart of society. Until the High Middle Ages, though, the subject was never brought up. They appeared to have been widely tolerated or ignored by the Christian church throughout Europe. Beginning in the 12th century, however, hostility towards homosexuality began to show. Homosexuality began to be viewed as “unnatural”. By the end of the 19th century, medicine and psychiatry were competing with religion and law over sexuality. It started to be seen as a crime and a sin. Today homosexuality is look as both right and wrong. There are ongoing debates on the highly controversial issue.



There has also been a lot of activity for the last forty years with what has been called the “Gay Revolution”. It has been going on since 1960’s to sustain drive for gay rights, and seek to end discrimination against homosexuality originated in employment, credit, housing, public...