Historical and Scientific Perspectives on Homosexuality
Shavon Harrison
PSY 265
Stephanie Sencil

The commonness of homosexual propensity have been witnessed in almost all cultures, in all regions, throughout history. Homosexual customs have been used as sexual liberations, rites of passage, and long-term relationships. The social acceptance of the behavior and the lifestyle as ranged from accepted to criminalized. Finding your voice in accepting your own homosexual identity is most difficult in repressive societies and admitting it to friends and family can be harder than admitting it to one’s self. Society will always have an influence on the behavior; the foundations of that society will also have an affect. Homosexual behavior adapts to each of societies that it was relegated to. Current homosexuals in western society are not excluded from this fact; current culture has, however, offered a unique perspective in rights and choices. From the establishment of “holy doctrines and dogmatic rule” of the Torah, Bible, and Quran, homosexual practices have been deemed unnatural and immoral. This admonition has been focused most upon male-male relations (Rathus, Nevid, Fichner-Rathus, 2005). Causes for this were not defined in the text; however, regional conversion to Christianity has used immorality to change the power structure in municipalities. Another well-used tradition within the power structures of Islam and Christianity is war. Each of these religious movements has shown the tendencies to expand their influence through conquest and expansion. The necessity of war is men, and historic statistics indicate that these societies promoted procreation, many to end up littered on the field of battle (and often in the name of their God). Male-male homosexual tolerance would have a marked influence on population growth, thereby creating the necessity