View source for Sodomy

{{Short description|Anal or oral sex with people, any sex with an animal, non-procreative sex}}
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[[File:Men engaging in anal sex, Safavid painting, 1720.jpg|thumb|287x287px|Men engaging in anal sex, Safavid painting]]
'''Sodomy''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɒ|d|əm|i}}), also called '''buggery''' in [[British English]], principally refers to either [[anal sex]] (but occasionally also [[oral sex]]) between people, or any [[Human sexual activity|sexual activity]] between a human and another animal ([[Zoophilia|bestiality]]). It may also mean any non-[[Human reproduction|procreative]] sexual activity (including [[Non-penetrative sex#Manual sex|manual sex]]).<ref name="Sauer 2015">{{cite book |last=Sauer |first=Michelle M. |year=2015 |chapter=The Unexpected Actuality: "Deviance" and Transgression |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U8mBCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA74 |title=Gender in Medieval Culture |location=London |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |pages=74–78 |doi=10.5040/9781474210683.ch-003 |isbn=978-1-4411-2160-8}}</ref><ref name="Phelps">{{cite book|author=Shirelle Phelps|title=World of Criminal Justice: N–Z|publisher=[[Gale (publisher)|Gale Group]]|year=2001|page=686|isbn =0-7876-5073-0|access-date=January 13, 2014|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=izwvAQAAIAAJ&q=World+of+Criminal+Justice:+N-Z.}}</ref><ref name="Scheb">{{cite book|author1=John Scheb|author2=John Scheb, II|title=Criminal Law and Procedure|publisher=[[Cengage Learning]]|year=2013|page=185|isbn =978-1-285-54613-1|access-date=January 13, 2014|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VZoWAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA185}}</ref><ref name="Newton">{{cite book|author=David Newton|title=Gay and Lesbian Rights: A Reference Handbook, Second Edition|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|year=2009|page=85|isbn =978-1-59884-307-1|access-date=January 13, 2014|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gjcUFK4RZNcC&pg=PA85}}</ref> Originally the term ''sodomy'', which is derived from the story of [[Sodom and Gomorrah]] in the [[Book of Genesis]],<ref name="Bullough 2019">{{cite book |author1-last=Bullough |author1-first=Vern L. |author2-last=Bullough |author2-first=Bonnie |year=2019 |orig-date=1977 |chapter="Unnatural Sex" |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KUEiEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA24 |title=Sin, Sickness and Sanity: A History of Sexual Attitudes |location=New York City and London |publisher=[[Routledge]] |edition=1st |series=Routledge Library Editions: History of Sexuality |pages=24–40 |doi=10.4324/9780429056659 |isbn=978-0-429-05663-5|s2cid=143758576 }}</ref><ref name="Douglas">{{cite book|author1=J. D. Douglas|author2=Merrill C. Tenney|title=Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary|publisher=[[Zondervan]]|year=2011|pages=1584 pages|isbn =978-0-310-49235-1|access-date=September 21, 2013|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Tq7UcPMwacC&pg=PT3169}}</ref> was commonly restricted to [[homosexual]] anal sex.<ref name="Edsall">{{cite book|author=Nicholas C. Edsall|title=Toward Stonewall: Homosexuality and Society in the Modern Western World|publisher=[[University of Virginia Press]]|year=2006 |pages=3–4|isbn =0-8139-2543-6|access-date=September 21, 2013|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0qjwZeKNyh4C&pg=PA3}}</ref><ref name="Sumner">{{cite book|author=Colin Sumner|title=The Blackwell Companion to Criminology|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]]|year=2008|pages=310–320|isbn =978-0-470-99895-3|access-date=September 21, 2013|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=seDrXjekCWwC&pg=PA311}}</ref> [[Sodomy law]]s in many countries criminalized the behavior.<ref name="Sumner"/> In the [[Western world]], many of these laws have been overturned or are routinely not enforced.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.tnr.com/article/unnatural-law |title=Unnatural Law |last=Sullivan |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Sullivan |date=March 24, 2003 |magazine=The New Republic |access-date=November 27, 2009 |quote=Since the laws had rarely been enforced against heterosexuals, there was no sense of urgency about their repeal. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100702015221/http://www.tnr.com/article/unnatural-law |archive-date=July 2, 2010 }} (Or {{cite magazine |last=Sullivan |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Sullivan|title=Unnatural Law |magazine=The New Republic |volume=228 |issue=11 |date=2003-03-24}})</ref> A person who practices sodomy is sometimes referred to as a '''sodomite''', a [[pejorative]] term.

==Terminology==
The term is derived from the [[Ecclesiastical Latin]] {{lang|la|peccatum Sodomiticum}}, "sin of Sodom", which in turn comes from the [[Ancient Greek]] word {{lang|grc|Σόδομα}} (Sódoma).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.myetymology.com/english/sodomy.html |website=myetymology.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916041421/http://www.myetymology.com/english/sodomy.html |archive-date=2012-09-16 |url-status=usurped |title=Sodomy}}</ref> [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] (chapters&nbsp;18–20) tells how God destroyed the sinful cities of [[Sodom and Gomorrah]]. Two angels sent to the cities are invited by [[Lot (Bible)|Lot]] to take refuge with his family for the night. The men of Sodom surround Lot's house and demand that he bring out the strangers so that they may "know" them (a euphemism for sexual intercourse). Lot protests that the messengers are his guests and offers the Sodomites his virgin daughters instead, but then they threaten to "do worse" with Lot than they would with his guests. Then the angels strike the Sodomites blind, "so that they wearied themselves to find the door". (Genesis 19:4–11, [[King James Version of the Bible|KJV]])

===In modern English===
In current usage the term is particularly used in law. [[Sodomy law|Laws prohibiting sodomy]] were seen frequently in past Jewish, Christian, and Islamic civilizations, but the term has little modern usage outside Africa, Asia, and the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sodomylaws.org/ |title=sodomy laws |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070704130716/http://www.sodomylaws.org/ |archive-date=2007-07-04 }}</ref>

These laws in the United States have been challenged and have sometimes been found unconstitutional or been replaced with different legislation.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-102.ZS.html |title=''Lawrence v. Texas'' in which The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that sodomy laws are unconstitutional on June 26, 2003 |website=cornell.edu |access-date=7 May 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180406071731/https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-102.ZS.html |archive-date=6 April 2018}}</ref>

The word ''[[wikt:sod#Etymology 2|sod]]'', a noun or verb (to "sod off") used as an insult, is derived from ''sodomite''.<ref>{{cite dictionary |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sod |dictionary=Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary |series=Main Entry |title=sod |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422175451/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sod |archive-date=2009-04-22 |quote=<nowiki>[3, noun]</nowiki>. Etymology: short for sodomite. Date: 1818.}}</ref><ref name="OED">{{cite dictionary |url=http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/sod_2?view=uk |title=sod{{sup|2}} |dictionary=Compact Oxford English Dictionary |isbn=978-0-19-861022-9 |quote=Origin: abbreviation of ''sodomite'' |access-date=June 23, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517165036/http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/sod_2?view=uk |archive-date=May 17, 2008|last1=Soanes |first1=Catherine |last2=Hawker |first2=Sara |year=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref> It is a general-purpose insult term for anyone the speaker dislikes without specific reference to their sexual behaviour. ''Sod'' is used as slang in the United Kingdom and the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] and is considered mildly offensive. (The word 'sod' also has a meaning of "(clump of) earth" with an unrelated etymology, in which sense it is rare but not offensive.)

===Cognates in other languages===
Many cognates in other languages, such as French {{lang|fr|[[:fr:sodomie|sodomie]]}} (verb {{lang|fr|sodomiser}}), Spanish {{lang|es|[[:es:sodomía|sodomía]]}} (verb {{lang|es|sodomizar}}), and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] {{lang|pt|[[:pt:sodomia|sodomia]]}} (verb {{lang|pt|sodomizar}}), are used exclusively for penetrative anal sex, at least since the early 19th century. In those languages, the term is also often current [[vernacular]] (not just legal, unlike in other cultures) and a formal way of referring to any practice of anal penetration; the word ''sex'' is commonly associated with consent and pleasure with regard to all involved parties and often avoids directly mentioning two common aspects of social [[taboo]] – human sexuality and the anus – without a shunning or archaic connotation to its use.

In modern German the word {{lang|de|[[:de:Sodomie|Sodomie]]}} has no connotation of anal or oral sex and specifically refers to [[zoophilia|bestiality]].<ref>See [[Paragraph 175#Version of June 28.2C 1935|Paragraph 175 StGB, version of June 28, 1935]].</ref> The same goes for the [[Polish language|Polish]] {{lang|pl|[[:pl:sodomia|sodomia]]}}. The [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] word {{lang|no|[[:no:sodomi|sodomi]]}} carries both senses. In [[Danish language|Danish]], {{lang|da|[[:da:sodomi|sodomi]]}} is rendered as "unnatural [[carnal knowledge]] with [[Gay sexual practices|someone of the same sex]] or (now) with [[Zoophilia|animals]]".<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://ordnet.dk/ods/ordbog?query=sodomi |chapter=Sodomi |title=[[Ordbog over det danske Sprog]]}}</ref>

In Arabic and [[Persian language|Persian]], the word for sodomy, {{lang|ar|لواط|rtl=yes}} (Arabic pronunciation: {{lang|ar-Latn|liwāṭ}}; Persian pronunciation {{lang|fa-Latn|lavât}}), is derived from the same source as in Western culture, with much the same connotations as English (referring to most sexual acts prohibited by the [[Qur'an]]). Its direct reference is to [[Islamic view of Lot|Lot]] (لوط ''Lūṭ'' in Arabic) and a more literal interpretation of the word is "the practice of Lot", but more accurately it means "the practice of Lot's people" (the Sodomites) rather than Lot himself.

===Religious and legal interpretation===
While religion and the law have had a fundamental role in the historical definition and punishment of sodomy, sodomitical texts present considerable opportunities for ambiguity and interpretation. Sodomy is both a real occurrence and an imagined category. In the course of the eighteenth century, what is identifiable as sodomy often becomes identified with effeminacy, for example, or in opposition to a discourse of manliness.

In this regard Ian McCormick has argued that

<blockquote>an adequate and imaginative reading involves a series of intertextual interventions in which histories become stories, fabrications and reconstructions in lively debate with, and around, 'dominant' heterosexualities ... Deconstructing what we think we see may well involve reconstructing ourselves in surprising and unanticipated ways.<ref>{{cite book |first=Ian |last=McCormick |title=Secret Sexualities: A Sourcebook of 17th and 18th&nbsp;Century Writing |place=London; New York |publisher=[[Routledge]] |pages=9, 11}}</ref></blockquote>

===Buggery===
The modern English word "[[bugger]]" is derived from the French term ''{{lang|fr|bougre}}'', that evolved from the [[Latin]] ''[[Bulgars|Bulgarus]]'' or "Bulgarian". The word was used to describe members of the [[Bogomilism|Bogomils]], a [[heretic]]al [[sect]] originating in [[First Bulgarian Empire|10th century Bulgaria]], as well as the related French [[Catharism|Albigenses]].

The first use of the word "buggery" appears in [[Middle English]] in 1330 where it is associated with "abominable heresy", though the sexual sense of "bugger" is not recorded until 1555.<ref>{{cite dictionary |title=buggery |dictionary=Oxford English Dictionary |url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/24372?redirectedFrom=buggery#eid}}</ref> ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology'' quotes a similar form: "bowgard" (and "bouguer"), but claims that the Bulgarians were heretics "as belonging to the Greek Church, sp. [[Albigensian Crusade|Albigensian]]". Webster's ''Third New International Dictionary'' gives the only meaning of the word "bugger" as a sodomite "from the adherence of the Bulgarians to the Eastern Church considered heretical".<ref>{{cite book |title=Bogomilism Study |url=http://www.bogomilism.eu/Studies/Bugger%20case.html  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150810053756/http://bogomilism.eu/Studies/Bugger%20case.html |archive-date=2015-08-10 }}</ref>

''Bugger'' is still commonly used in modern British English as an exclamation, while "buggery" is synonymous with the act of sodomy.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/24372|title = buggery, n.|date = December 2021|access-date = 10 January 2022|website = Oxford English Dictionary Online|url-access=subscription|quote=in legal contexts now typically refers to rape involving anal penetration (especially of minors). Sodomy is the more usual term in U.S. use. }}</ref>

==History==
[[File:John Martin - Sodom and Gomorrah.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|''The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah'', [[John Martin (painter)|John Martin]], 1852]]

===Hebrew Bible===
[[File:Sodoma - Elluin.jpg|thumb|[[François-Rolland Elluin|François Elluin]], ''Sodomites provoking the wrath of God'', from ''Le Pot-Pourri de Loth'', 1781]]
In the Hebrew Bible, [[Sodom and Gomorrah|Sodom]] was a city destroyed by God because of the evil of its inhabitants.<ref name="Bullough 2019"/> No specific sin is given as the reason for God's great wrath.<ref name="Bullough 2019"/> The story of Sodom's destruction{{snd}}and of [[Abraham]]'s failed attempt to intercede with God and prevent that destruction{{snd}}appears in [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] 18–19. The connection between Sodom and homosexuality is derived from the described attempt by a mob of the city's people to rape [[Lot (biblical person)|Lot]]'s male guests.<ref name="Bullough 2019"/> Some suggest the sinfulness for which Sodom was destroyed might have consisted mainly in the violation of obligations of hospitality, which were important for the original writers of the Biblical account.<ref>Boswell, pp. 92–98</ref> In [[Book of Judges|Judges]] 19–21, there is an account, similar in many ways, where [[Gibeah]], a city of the Benjamin tribe, is destroyed by the other tribes of Israel in revenge for a mob of its inhabitants raping and killing a woman.

Many times in the [[Torah|Pentateuch]] and [[Nevi'im|Prophets]], writers use God's destruction of Sodom to demonstrate His awesome power. This happens in [[Deuteronomy]] 29; [[Isaiah]] [[Isaiah 1|1]], [[Isaiah 3|3]], and [[Isaiah 13|13]]; [[Jeremiah]] [[Jeremiah 49|49]] and [[Jeremiah 50|50]]; [[Book of Lamentations|Lamentations]] [[Lamentations 4|4]]; [[Book of Amos|Amos]] 4.11; and [[Zephaniah]] 2.9. Deuteronomy 32, Jeremiah 23.14, and Lamentations 4 reference the sinfulness of Sodom, but do not specify any particular sin.

Specific sins which Sodom is linked to by the prophets of the Hebrew Bible are [[adultery]] and [[lie|lying]] ({{bibleverse||Jeremiah|23:14|KJV|}}).

In [[Ezekiel 16]], a long comparison is made between Sodom and the [[kingdom of Judah]]: "Yet you have not merely walked in their ways or done according to their abominations; but, as if that were too little, you acted more corruptly in all your conduct than they." (v. 47, [[New American Standard Bible|NASB]]) "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me." (vss. 49–50, NASB) (The Hebrew for the word "thus" is the conjunction "ו" which is usually translated "and", therefore KJV, NIV, and CEV omit the word entirely.)

There is no explicit mention of any sexual sin in Ezekiel's summation and "abomination" is used to describe many sins.<ref name="Bullough 2019"/>

The [[Authorized King James Version]] translates {{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|23:17|KJV}} as: "There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel," but the word corresponding to "sodomite" in the Hebrew original, ''Qadesh'' ([[Hebrew]]:קדש), does not refer to Sodom, and has been translated in the [[New International Version]] as "[[Sacred prostitution|shrine prostitute]]"; male shrine prostitutes may have served barren women in fertility rites rather than engaging in homosexual acts; this also applies to other instances of the word sodomite in the King James Version.<ref>{{Citation
  | last = Anderson
  | first = Ray Sherman
  | title = The shape of practical theology: empowering ministry with theological praxis
  | publisher = InterVarsity Press
  | year = 2001
  | page = 267
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CagagOo11-QC&pg=PA267
  | isbn = 978-0-8308-1559-3}}
</ref><ref>{{Citation
  | last1 = Jewett
  | first1 = Paul
  | last2 = Shuster
  | first2 = Marguerite
  | title = Who we are: our dignity as human: a neo-evangelical theology
  | publisher = Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
  | year = 1996
  | page = 296
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=b05BBoBEQBIC&pg=PA296
  | isbn = 978-0-8028-4075-2}}
</ref>

The [[Book of Wisdom]], which is included in the Biblical canon by Orthodox and Catholic Christians, makes reference to the story of Sodom, further emphasizing that their sin had been failing to practice hospitality:
{{Poem quote|And punishments came upon the sinners not without former signs by the force of thunders: for they suffered justly according to their own wickedness, insomuch as they used a more hard and hateful behavior toward strangers.

For the Sodomites did not receive those, whom they knew not when they came: but these brought friends into bondage, that had well deserved of them. ([[King James Version of the Bible|KJV]])<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/kjv.Wis.19.html#Wis.19.13 |title=KJV |chapter=Wisdom 19:13–14}}</ref>}}

===Philo===
The [[Hellenistic]] Jewish philosopher, [[Philo]] (20 BCE – 50 CE), described the inhabitants of Sodom in an extra-biblical account:<ref name="Bullough 2019"/>

{{quote|As men, being unable to bear discreetly a satiety of these things, get restive like cattle, and become stiff-necked, and discard the laws of nature, pursuing a great and intemperate indulgence of gluttony, and drinking, and unlawful connections; for not only did they go mad after other women, and defile the marriage bed of others, but also those who were men lusted after one another, doing unseemly things, and not regarding or respecting their common nature, and though eager for children, they were convicted by having only an abortive offspring; but the conviction produced no advantage, since they were overcome by violent desire; and so by degrees, the men became accustomed to be treated like women, and in this way engendered among themselves the disease of females, and intolerable evil; for they not only, as to effeminacy and delicacy, became like women in their persons, but they also made their souls most ignoble, corrupting in this way the whole race of men, as far as depended on them.|133–35; ET Jonge 422–23<ref>[https://www.scribd.com/doc/8326130/The-Works-of-Philo The works of Philo a contemporary of Josephius] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119043027/http://www.scribd.com/doc/8326130/The-Works-of-Philo |date=2016-01-19 }} p. 528</ref>{{better source needed|reason=Anyone can upload any old rubbish to Scribd|date=November 2023}}}}

===New Testament===
The [[New Testament]], like the [[Old Testament]], references Sodom as a place where God's anger against sin was displayed, but the [[Epistle of Jude]] provides a certain class of sin as causative of its destruction, the meaning of which is disputed.

{{Blockquote|1=
I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.|2=Jude 1:5 [[Authorized King James Version|KJV]]<br />[http://studybible.info/compare/Jude%201:7 Compare Jude 1:7 in multiple versions]}}

The Greek word in the New Testament from which the phrase is translated "giving themselves over to fornication", is ''ekporneuō'' (''ek'' and ''porneuō''). As one word, it is not used elsewhere in the New Testament, but occurs in the [[Septuagint]] to denote whoredom (Genesis 38:24 and Exodus 34:15). Some modern translations such as the [[NIV]] render it as "sexual immorality".

The Greek words for "strange flesh" are ''heteros,'' which almost always basically denotes "another/other", and ''sarx'', a common word for "flesh", and usually refers to the physical body or the nature of man or of an ordinance.

In the Christian expansion of the prophets, they further linked Sodom to the sins of impenitence ({{bibleverse||Matthew|11:23|KJV|}}), careless living ({{bibleverse||Luke|17:28|KJV|}}), [[fornication]] ({{bibleverse||Jude|1:7|KJV|}} [[KJV]]), and an overall "filthy" lifestyle ({{bibleverse|2|Peter|2:7|KJV|}}), which word (''aselgeiais'') elsewhere is rendered in the KJV as [[lasciviousness]] ({{bibleverse||Mark|7:22|KJV|}}; {{bibleverse|2|Corinthians|12:21|KJV|}}; {{bibleverse||Ephesians|4:19|KJV|}}; {{bibleverse|1|Peter|4:3|KJV|}}; {{bibleverse||Jude|1:4|KJV|}}) or [[incontinence (philosophy)|wantonness]] ({{bibleverse||Romans|13:13|KJV|}}; {{bibleverse|2|Peter|2:18|KJV|}}).

====Epistle of Jude====
The [[Epistle of Jude]] in the New Testament echoes the Genesis narrative and potentially adds the sexually immoral aspects of Sodom's sins: "just as [[Sodom and Gomorrah]] and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire" (v. 7, English Standard Version). The phrase rendered "sexual immorality and unnatural desire" is translated "strange flesh" or "false flesh", but it is not entirely clear what it refers to.

One theory is that it is just a reference to the "strange flesh" of the intended rape victims, who were angels, not men.<ref>Boswell, p. 97</ref> Countering this is traditional interpretation, which notes that the angels were sent to investigate an ongoing regional problem (Gn. 18) of fornication, and extraordinarily so, that of a homosexual nature,<ref>Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible</ref><ref>''Vincent's Word Studies''</ref>  "out of the order of nature".<ref>Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, ''Commentary on the Old and New Testaments''</ref> "Strange" is understood to mean "outside the moral law",<ref>Word pictures in the New Testament, Archibald Thomas Robertson</ref> ({{bibleverse||Romans|7:3|KJV}}; {{bibleverse||Galatians|1:6|KJV}}) while it is doubted that either Lot or the men of Sodom understood that the strangers were angels at the time.<ref>Gill, Gn. 19</ref>

===Josephus===
The Jewish historian [[Josephus]] used the term "Sodomites" in summarizing the [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] narrative: "About this time the Sodomites grew proud, on account of their riches and great wealth; they became unjust towards men, and impious towards God, in so much that they did not call to mind the advantages they received from him: they hated strangers, and abused themselves with Sodomitical practices" "Now when the Sodomites saw the young men to be of beautiful countenances, and this to an extraordinary degree, and that they took up their lodgings with Lot, they resolved themselves to enjoy these beautiful boys by force and violence; and when Lot exhorted them to sobriety, and not to offer anything immodest to the strangers, but to have regard to their lodging in his house; and promised that if their inclinations could not be governed, he would expose his daughters to their lust, instead of these strangers; neither thus were they made ashamed." (''Antiquities'' 1.11.1,3<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/ant-1.htm |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-12-31 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091216095250/http://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/ant-1.htm |archive-date=2009-12-16 }}</ref> – c. 96CE). His assessment goes beyond the Biblical data, though it is seen by conservatives as defining what manner of fornication (Jude 1:7) Sodom was given to.<ref name="Sauer 2015" />

===Medieval Christendom===
{{Primary sources|section|date=January 2023}}[[File:Dante sodom.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Dante]] and [[Virgil]] interview the sodomites, from {{Interlanguage link multi|Guido da Pisa|it}}'s commentary on the ''Commedia'', {{Circa|1345}}]]

Homosexual intercourse between males was possibly denounced in pre-6th century Jewish and Christian writings, such as the ''[[Epistle to the Romans]]'' or [[John Chrysostom]]'s fourth homily on Romans<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/210204.htm | title=CHURCH FATHERS: Homily 4 on Romans (Chrysostom) }}</ref> and attributed to Sodom by the Jewish philosopher [[Philo of Alexandria|Philo]] (20 BCE – 50 CE) and the Christian bishop [[Methodius of Olympus]] (260–311)<ref>Commentary on the sin of Sodom</ref> and possible by [[Flavius Josephus]] (37–100)<ref>Josephus, ''Antiquities'', 1.11.1</ref><ref>33–34; ET Jonge 422–23</ref><ref>{{cite periodical |title=The Sodom tradition in Romans |periodical=Biblical Theology Bulletin |date=Spring 2004 |first=Philip F. |last=Esler}}</ref> [[Augustine of Hippo]], (354–430)<ref>[[Augustine of Hippo]], ''Confessions''. Commenting on the story of Sodom from Genesis 19</ref> and some [[pseudepigrapha]]cal texts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf08.iii.xiv.html |id=ANF08.iii.xiv |title=The Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementia, Apocrypha, Decretals, Memoirs of Edessa and Syriac Documents, Remains of the First |series=Christian Classics Ethereal Library |website=www.ccel.org |access-date=7 May 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831222938/http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf08.iii.xiv.html |archive-date=31 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf08.iii.x.html |id=ANF08.iii.x |title=The Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementia, Apocrypha, Decretals, Memoirs of Edessa and Syriac Documents, Remains of the First |series=Christian Classics Ethereal Library |website=www.ccel.org |access-date=7 May 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831220729/http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf08.iii.x.html |archive-date=31 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/fbe/fbe117.htm |title=Book of the Secrets of Enoch (Slavonic Apocalypse of) |at=10:4; in J recension Ch. I.118 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227100006/http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/fbe/fbe117.htm |archive-date=2009-02-27 |orig-date=late 1st century AD}}</ref> The first attested applications of the word "sodomy" to male homosexual intercourse were [[Byzantine Emperor|Emperor]] [[Justinian I]]'s amendments to his ''[[Corpus iuris civilis]]''; novels no. 77 (dating 538) and no. 141 (dating 559) declared that Sodom's sin had been specifically same-sex activities and desire for them. He also linked "famines, earthquakes, and pestilences" upon cities as being due to "such crimes,"<ref>trans. in Derrick Sherwin Bailey, Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition, (London: Longmans, Green, 1955), 73–74</ref><ref>[https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/pwh/just-novels.asp Justinian I: Novel 77 (538) and Novel 141 (544 CE)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331231233/https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/pwh/just-novels.asp |date=2019-03-31 }} (Fordham Internet History Sourcebooks Project)</ref> during a time of recent earthquakes and other disasters (see [[Extreme weather events of 535–536]]). While adhering to the death penalty by beheading as punishment for homosexuality or adultery, Justinian's legal novels heralded a change in Roman legal paradigm in that he introduced a concept of not only secular but also divine punishment for homosexual behavior.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

Justinian's usage of the term was taken up around 850 CE by the [[Pseudo-Isidore|Pseudo-Isidorian]] fabrications. Three Carolingian [[capitularies]], fabricated under the pseudonym Benedictus Levita, referred to sodomy:
* ''XXI. De diversis malorum flagitiis.'' ("No. 21: On manifold disgraceful wrongs")
* ''CXLIII. De sceleribus nefandis ob quae regna percussa sunt, ut penitus caveantur.'' ("No. 143: On sinful vices due to which empires have crumbled, so that we shall do our best to beware of them")
* ''CLX. De patratoribus diversorum malorum.'' ("No. 160: On the perpetrators of manifold evil deeds")
[[File:Execution Sodomites Ghent 1578 (1).jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Monks accused of sodomy burned at the stake, [[Ghent]] 1578]]
[[Benedictus Levita]] broadened the meaning for ''sodomy'' to all sexual acts not related to procreation that were therefore deemed ''counter nature'' (so for instance, even solitary masturbation and anal intercourse between a male and a female were covered), while among these, he still emphasized all interpersonal acts not taking place between human men and women, especially homosexuality.{{citation needed |date=September 2019}}

Benedictus Levita prescribed capital punishment for sodomy. Burning had been part of the standard penalty for homosexual behavior, particularly common in Germanic [[protohistory]] (as according to Germanic folklore, sexual deviance and especially same-sex desire were caused by a form of malevolence or spiritual evil called ''[[Nīþ|nith]]'', rendering those people characterized by it as non-human fiends, as ''nithings'').{{citation needed|date=September 2019}} Benedictus Levita's rationale was that the punishment of such acts was to protect all Christendom from divine punishments, such as natural disasters for carnal sins committed by individuals, but also for heresy, superstition, and paganism. Because his crucial demands for capital punishment had been so unheard of in ecclesiastical history previously, based upon the humane Christian concept of forgiveness and mercy, it took several centuries before Benedictus Levita's demands for legal reform began to take tangible shape within larger ecclesiastical initiatives.

During the [[Medieval Inquisition]], sects like the [[Cathars]] and [[Waldensians]] were not only persecuted for their heterodox beliefs, but were increasingly accused of fornication and sodomy. In 1307, accusations of sodomy and homosexuality were major charges levelled during the [[Trial of the Knights Templar]]. Some of these charges were specifically directed at the Grand Master of the order, [[Jacques de Molay]].<ref>{{cite book |first=G. |last=Legman |title=The Guilt of the Templars |place=New York |publisher=Basic Books |year=1966 |page=11}}</ref> The [[Adamites]] were a libertine sect also accused of sodomy.<ref name="Deane 2022 p. 269">{{cite book | last=Deane | first=J.K. | title=A History of Medieval Heresy and Inquisition | publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers | series=Critical Issues in World and International History | year=2022 | isbn=978-1-5381-5295-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OTSGEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA269 | access-date=2023-06-27 | page=269}}</ref>

The  early-modern [[witch hunts]] were also largely connoted with sodomy.<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Templars |author=W.A.P. |authorlink=Walter Alison Phillips}}</ref>

Persecution of Cathars and the [[Bogomiles]] in Bulgaria led to the use of a term closely related to ''sodomy'': ''buggery'' derives from French ''bouggerie'', meaning "of Bulgaria".<ref>''Oxford English Dictionary''</ref> The association of ''sodomy'' with hereticism, satanism, and witchcraft was supported by the Inquisition trials.<ref>See ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages'' (2010), p.&nbsp;809</ref>

===Sodomy laws in 18th-century Europe===
{{More citations needed section|date=April 2010}}
[[File:Amsterdam sodomites 1730.png|thumb|upright=1.05|A [[wanted poster]], published in the city of [[Amsterdam]] in 1730, accusing ten men of "the abominable crime of sodomy" ({{lang|nl|de verfoeyelyke Crimen van Sodomie}})]]

An examination of trials for rape and sodomy during the 18th century at the [[Old Bailey]] in London shows that the treatment of rape was often lenient, while the treatment of sodomy was often severe. However, the difficulty of proving that penetration and ejaculation had occurred meant that men were often convicted of the lesser charge of "assault with sodomitical intent", which was not a capital offence.<ref>[https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/about/crimes#assaultwithsodomiticalintent Crimes tried at the Old Bailey] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602121130/https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/Crimes.jsp |date=2017-06-02 }}, ''Proceedings of the Old Bailey'' online</ref> Sodomy crimes in England could mean "sexually assaulting a young child", and could result in a sentence of [[death recorded]], i.e., not an actual death sentence at all.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Zipporah Osei |title=An Author Learned of a Mortifying Research Mistake Live on the Radio. Here's How Twitter Reacted |url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/An-Author-Learned-of-a/246370 |access-date=24 May 2019 |work=[[The Chronicle of Higher Education]] |date=24 May 2019 |quote=a death sentence was being recorded, not carried out, so a prisoner could instead have been pardoned and freed&nbsp;... the case of Thomas Silver, a 14-year-old she believed was sentenced to death for a homosexual act. Wolf said in the interview that she found several dozen similar 'executions'. A newspaper report from the time, which Sweet presented to Wolf during the interview, shows that Silver was actually shown mercy because of his age&nbsp;... the 14-year-old was in fact convicted of sexually assaulting a young child.}}</ref>

In 18th century France, sodomy was still theoretically a capital crime, and there are a handful of cases where sodomites were executed. However, in several of these, other crimes were involved as well. Records from the [[Bastille]] and the police lieutenant d'Argenson, as well as other sources, show that many who were arrested were exiled, sent to a regiment, or imprisoned in places (generally the hospital) associated with moral crimes (such as prostitution). Of these, a number were involved in prostitution or had approached children, or otherwise gone beyond merely having homosexual relations. Ravaisson (a 19th-century writer who edited the Bastille records) suggested that the authorities preferred to handle these cases discreetly, lest public punishments in effect publicize "this vice".{{Citation needed|date=February 2012|reason=since April 2010 section template}}

Periodicals of the time sometimes casually named known sodomites, and at one point, even suggested that sodomy was increasingly popular. This does not imply that sodomites necessarily lived in security{{snd}}specific police agents, for instance, watched the [[Tuileries]], even then a known "cruising area". But, as with much sexual behaviour under the Old Regime, discretion was a key concern on all sides (especially since members of prominent families were sometimes implicated); the law seemed most concerned with those who were the least discreet.{{Citation needed|date=February 2012|reason=since April 2010 section template}}

In 1730, there was a wave of sodomy trials in the [[Netherlands]]; some 250 men were summoned before the authorities; 91 faced decrees of exile for not appearing. At least 60 men were sentenced to death.<ref>Rictor Norton, [http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1730news.htm "The Dutch Purge of Homosexuals 1730"]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120518101647/http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1730news.htm |date=2012-05-18 }}</ref>

The last two Englishmen that were hanged for sodomy were executed in 1835. [[James Pratt and John Smith]] died in front of [[Newgate Prison]] in London on 27 November 1835<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/newgate.html|title=A history of London's Newgate prison|website=www.capitalpunishmentuk.org|access-date=7 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171104073614/http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/newgate.html|archive-date=4 November 2017}}</ref> or 8 April 1835.<ref name="MH">{{cite web |last1=Hunter |first1=Madeline |title=Madeline Hunter –History |url=http://www.madelinehunter.com/history10.html |website=madelinehunter.com |access-date=7 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121120003411/http://madelinehunter.com/history10.html |archive-date=20 November 2012}}</ref> They had been prosecuted under the [[Offences against the Person Act 1828]], which had replaced the 1533 [[Buggery Act]].

==Modern sodomy laws==
{{Main|Sodomy law}}

Laws criminalizing sodomy rarely spell out precise sexual acts, but are typically understood by courts to include any sexual act deemed to be unnatural or immoral.<ref>{{cite book | last = Weeks | first = Jeff | title =Sex, Politics and Society: The Regulation of Sexuality Since 1800 | publisher = Longman Publishing Group |year= 1981 | location = London | isbn = 0-582-48334-4}}</ref> Sodomy typically includes [[anal sex]], [[oral sex]], and [[zoophilia|bestiality]].<ref name="Phelps2">{{cite book|author=Shirelle Phelps|title=World of Criminal Justice: N–Z|publisher=[[Gale (publisher)|Gale Group]]|year=2001|page=686|isbn =0-7876-5073-0|access-date=13 January 2014|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=izwvAQAAIAAJ&q=World+of+Criminal+Justice:+N-Z.}}</ref><ref name="Scheb2">{{cite book|first1=John |last1=Scheb|first2=John II |last2=Scheb|title=Criminal Law and Procedure|publisher=[[Cengage Learning]]|year=2013|page=185|isbn =978-1-285-54613-1|access-date=13 January 2014|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VZoWAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA185}}</ref><ref name="Newton2">{{cite book|author=David Newton|title=Gay and Lesbian Rights: A Reference Handbook |edition=2nd|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|year=2009|page=85|isbn =978-1-59884-307-1|access-date=13 January 2014|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gjcUFK4RZNcC&pg=PA85}}</ref> In practice, sodomy laws have rarely been enforced against heterosexual couples, and have mostly been used to target homosexuals.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.tnr.com/article/unnatural-law| title=Unnatural Law |last=Sullivan |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Sullivan |date=24 March 2003 |magazine=The New Republic |access-date=27 November 2009 |quote=Since the laws had rarely been enforced against heterosexuals, there was no sense of urgency about their repeal. |volume=228 |issue=11}}</ref>

[[File:National Equality March (19).png|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Queer anarchism|Queer anarchists]] protesting against [[homophobia]], with a banner reading "Sodomize Assimilation", on 11 October 2009 in Washington DC]]
As of February 2024, 66 countries as well as three sub-national jurisdictions{{efn| These sub-national jurisdictions are: the province of [[Aceh]] (Indonesia), Gaza{{which?|reason=All of the Gaza Strip or just Gaza Governorate?|date=January 2023}} (Palestine) and [[Chechnya]] (Russia).{{cn|date=January 2023}}}} have laws criminalizing homosexuality.<ref name="ILGA"/> In 2006 that number was 92. Among these 66 countries, 44 of them criminalize not only male homosexuality but also female homosexuality. In 11 of them, homosexuality is punished with the death penalty.<ref name=ILGA>{{cite web |url=https://ilga.org/downloads/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2019.pdf |title=State-sponsored Homophobia |date=March 2019 |edition=13th |first=Lucas Ramón |last=Mendos |publisher=International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association |location=Geneva, Switzerland |access-date=28 August 2021 |archive-date=22 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222220100/https://ilga.org/downloads/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2019.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Abrahamic religions==
[[Abrahamic religions]] (namely Judaism, [[Samaritanism]], Christianity, the [[Baháʼí Faith]], and [[Islam]]) have traditionally affirmed and endorsed a [[Patriarchy|patriarchal]] and [[Heteronormativity|heteronormative]] approach towards [[human sexuality]],<ref name="Int J Transgend.">{{cite journal |author1-last=Campbell |author1-first=Marianne |author2-last=Hinton |author2-first=Jordan D. X. |author3-last=Anderson |author3-first=Joel R. |date=February 2019 |title=A systematic review of the relationship between religion and attitudes toward transgender and gender-variant people |journal=[[International Journal of Transgenderism]] |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=21–38 |doi=10.1080/15532739.2018.1545149 |doi-access=free |issn=1553-2739 |lccn=2004213389 |oclc=56795128 |pmc=6830999 |pmid=32999592 |s2cid=151069171 |quote=Many religions are based on teachings of peace, love, and tolerance, and thus, at least based on those specific teachings, these religions promote intergroup pro-sociality. However, evidence from studies of religion and social attitudes have paradoxically revealed that religion is typically a predictor of intergroup anti-sociality, or in other words religion tends to predict most forms of prejudice. When conceptualizing religion in terms of self-reported categorical religious affiliation (i.e., Christian, [[Muslim]], Jewish, etc.), religiously affiliated individuals tend to report more negative attitudes against a variety of social outgroups than individuals who are not religiously affiliated. ... In addition, most [[Abrahamic religions]] (e.g., Judaism, Christianity, and [[Islam]]) contain dogmas in which their respective deity create mankind with individuals who are perfectly entrenched in the gender binary (e.g., [[Adam and Eve]]), and thus religions might be instilling cisgender normativity into individuals who ascribe to their doctrines.}}</ref><ref name="Graham 2017">{{cite book |last=Graham |first=Philip |year=2017 |chapter=Male Sexuality and Pornography |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X74pDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA250 |title=Men and Sex: A Sexual Script Approach |location=[[Cambridge]] and New York City |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=250–251 |doi= 10.1017/9781316874998.013 |isbn=978-1-107-18393-3 |lccn=2017004137 |quote=[[Patriarchy|Patriarchal beliefs]] assert the 'natural' [[Male supremacism|superiority of men]] with a right to leadership in family and public life. Such beliefs derive particularly from [[Abrahamic religions]]. Patriarchal attitudes relating to sexual behaviour are mixed and inconsistent. They include, on one hand, the idea that as part of their natural inferiority, women are less in control of their sex drives and are therefore essentially lustful, with a constant craving for sex. This belief leads to the [[rape myth]] – even when women resist sexual advances they are using it merely as a seductive device. On the other hand, patriarchal beliefs also dictate that women, in contrast to men, are naturally submissive and have little interest in sex, so men have a 'natural' right to sexual intercourse whether women want it or not.}}</ref><ref name="Mbuwayesango 2016">{{cite book |author-last=Mbuwayesango |author-first=Dora R. |year=2016 |orig-date=2015 |chapter=Part III: The Bible and Bodies – Sex and Sexuality in Biblical Narrative |editor-last=Fewell |editor-first=Danna N. |editor-link=Danna Nolan Fewell |title=The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Narrative |location=[[Oxford]] and New York City |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=456–465 |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199967728.013.39 |isbn=978-0-19-996772-8 |lccn=2015033360 |s2cid=146505567}}</ref><ref name="Leeming 2003">{{cite journal |author-last=Leeming |author-first=David A. |author-link=David Adams Leeming |date=June 2003 |title=Religion and Sexuality: The Perversion of a Natural Marriage |editor-last=Carey |editor-first=Lindsay B. |journal=[[Journal of Religion and Health]] |publisher=[[Springer Verlag]] |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=101–109 |doi=10.1023/A:1023621612061 |issn=1573-6571 |jstor=27511667 |s2cid=38974409}}</ref> favouring exclusively [[Heterosexual intercourse|penetrative vaginal intercourse between men and women]] within the boundaries of marriage over all other forms of [[human sexual activity]].<ref name="Mbuwayesango 2016"/><ref name="Leeming 2003"/>  At various times, acts including [[autoeroticism]], [[masturbation]], [[oral sex]], [[Non-penetrative sex#Manual sex|manual sex]], [[Non-penetrative sex|non-penetrative]] and [[Homosexual sexual practices|non-heterosexual]] sexual intercourse have been labeled as "sodomy",<ref name="Sauer 2015"/> believing and teaching that such behaviors are forbidden because they are considered [[sin]]ful,<ref name="Mbuwayesango 2016"/><ref name="Leeming 2003"/> and further compared to or derived from the behavior of the alleged residents of [[Sodom and Gomorrah]].<ref name="Mbuwayesango 2016"/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Gnuse |first=Robert K. |date=May 2015 |title=Seven Gay Texts: Biblical Passages Used to Condemn Homosexuality |journal=[[Biblical Theology Bulletin]] |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] on behalf of Biblical Theology Bulletin Inc. |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=68–87 |doi=10.1177/0146107915577097 |issn=1945-7596 |s2cid=170127256}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=29699 |title=Bishop Soto tells NACDLGM: 'Homosexuality is Sinful' |last=Gilbert |first=Kathleen |date=September 29, 2008 |website=Catholic Online |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080930122028/http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=29699 |archive-date=30 September 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/religion/news/2010/12/08/8822/what-are-religious-texts-really-saying-about-gay-and-transgender-rights/ |title=What are Religious Texts Really Saying about Gay and Transgender Rights? |last1=Robinson |first1=Gene |last2=Krehely |first2=Jeff |last3=Steenland |first3=Sally |date=December 8, 2010 |website=Center for American Progress |access-date=March 30, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/xarchive/voices/the-story-of-sodom-and-gomorrah-was-not-about-homosexuality-20180719 |title=The Story of Sodom and Gomorrah was NOT About Homosexuality |last=Modisane |first=Cameron |date=November 15, 2014 |website=News24 |access-date=March 30, 2021}}</ref> However, the status of LGBT people in [[early Christianity]]<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Doerfler |author-first=Maria E. |year=2016 |orig-date=2014 |chapter=Coming Apart at the Seams: Cross-dressing, Masculinity, and the Social Body in Late Antiquity |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7fsoDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA37 |editor1-last=Upson-Saia |editor1-first=Kristi |editor2-last=Daniel-Hughes |editor2-first=Carly |editor3-last=Batten |editor3-first=Alicia J. |title=Dressing Judeans and Christians in Antiquity |location=London and New York City |publisher=[[Routledge]] |edition=1st |pages=37–51 |doi=10.4324/9781315578125-9 |isbn=978-0-367-87933-4 |lccn=2014000554 |oclc=921583924 |s2cid=165559811}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author-last=Hunter |author-first=David G. |year=2015 |chapter=Celibacy Was 'Queer': Rethinking Early Christianity |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VgDSBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA13 |editor1-last=Talvacchia |editor1-first=Kathleen T. |editor2-last=Pettinger |editor2-first=Michael F. |editor3-last=Larrimore |editor3-first=Mark |title=Queer Christianities: Lived Religion in Transgressive Forms |location=New York City and London |publisher=[[NYU Press]] |pages=13–24|isbn=978-1-4798-5181-2 |jstor=j.ctt13x0q0q.6 |lccn=2014025201 |s2cid=152944605}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Frost|first=Natasha|date=2018-03-02|title=A Modern Controversy Over Ancient Homosexuality|url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/john-boswell-homosexuality-catholicism-history|access-date=2021-04-24|website=Atlas Obscura|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=McClain|first=Lisa|title=A thousand years ago, the Catholic Church paid little attention to homosexuality|url=http://theconversation.com/a-thousand-years-ago-the-catholic-church-paid-little-attention-to-homosexuality-112830|access-date=2021-04-24|website=The Conversation|language=en}}</ref> and [[Early history of Islam|early Islam]]<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Geissinger |author-first=Ash |year=2021 |chapter=Applying Gender and Queer Theory to Pre-modern sources |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ABYHEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA101 |editor-last=Howe |editor-first=Justine |title=The Routledge Handbook of Islam and Gender |location=London and New York City |publisher=[[Routledge]] |edition=1st |pages=101–115 |doi=10.4324/9781351256568-6 |isbn=978-1-351-25656-8 |s2cid=224909490}}</ref><ref name="Schmidtke 1999">{{cite journal |last=Schmidtke |first=Sabine |author-link=Sabine Schmidtke |date=June 1999 |title=Homoeroticism and Homosexuality in Islam: A Review Article |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) |location=[[Cambridge]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=260–266 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X00016700 |eissn=1474-0699 |issn=0041-977X |jstor=3107489 |s2cid=170880292}}</ref><ref name="Islamic Homosexualities">{{cite book |author-last=Murray |author-first=Stephen O. |author-link=Stephen O. Murray |year=1997 |chapter=The Will Not to Know: Islamic Accommodations of Male Homosexuality |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Zw-AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA14 |editor1-last=Murray |editor1-first=Stephen O. |editor2-last=Roscoe |editor2-first=Will |title=[[Islamic Homosexualities|Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, History, and Literature]] |location=New York City and London |publisher=[[NYU Press]] |pages=14–54 |doi=10.18574/nyu/9780814761083.003.0004 |isbn=978-0-8147-7468-7 |jstor=j.ctt9qfmm4 |oclc=35526232 |s2cid=141668547}}</ref><ref name="TEOEM">{{cite journal |last=Rowson |first=Everett K. |author-link=Everett K. Rowson |title=The Effeminates of Early Medina |journal=[[Journal of the American Oriental Society]] |publisher=[[American Oriental Society]] |volume=111 |issue=4 |pages=671–693 |date=October 1991 |url=http://www.williamapercy.com/wiki/images/The_effeminates_of_early_medina.pdf |doi=10.2307/603399 |issn=0003-0279 |jstor=603399 |citeseerx=10.1.1.693.1504 |lccn=12032032 |oclc=47785421 |s2cid=163738149 |access-date=7 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081001195534/http://www.williamapercy.com/wiki/images/The_effeminates_of_early_medina.pdf |archive-date=1 October 2008 }}</ref> is debated.

===Judaism===
{{quote|Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw ''good''.|{{bibleverse||Ezekiel|16:49–50|KJV}} ([[King James Version|KJV]])}}

Classical Jewish texts are seen by many as not stressing the homosexual aspect of the attitude of the inhabitants of Sodom as much as their cruelty and lack of [[hospitality]] to the "stranger".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rictornorton.co.uk/homopho2.htm|title=A History of Homophobia: 2 The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah|website=rictornorton.co.uk|access-date=7 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170608042052/http://rictornorton.co.uk/homopho2.htm|archive-date=8 June 2017}}</ref>{{fcn|date=January 2023}} The 13th-century Jewish scholar, [[Nachmanides]], wrote: "According to our sages, they were notorious for every evil, but their fate was sealed for their persistence in not supporting the poor and the needy." His contemporary, Rabbenu Yonah, expresses the same view: "Scripture attributes their annihilation to their failure to practice ''[[tzedakah]]'' [charity or justice]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shemayisrael.co.il/publicat/hazon/tzedaka/Tzedakah_Activists_Vs_Sodomites.html|title=Tzedakah Activists Vs. Sodomites|website=www.shemayisrael.co.il|access-date=7 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813013341/http://www.shemayisrael.co.il/publicat/hazon/tzedaka/Tzedakah_Activists_Vs_Sodomites.html|archive-date=13 August 2017}}</ref> Prohibitions on same-sex activities among men (#157) and bestiality (#155–156) are among the [[613 commandments]] as listed by [[Maimonides]] in the 12th century; however, their source in [[Leviticus 18]] does not contain the word ''sodomy''. The idea that homosexual intercourse was involved as at least a part of the evil of Sodom arises from the story in [[Genesis 19]] (KJV):

{{quote|And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.|{{Bibleref2|Genesis|19:4–7|KJV;NIV}} (KJV)}}

The verb "know" is understood to be [[Carnal knowledge|a euphemism for sex]] (see discussion in the section below), which some translations (e.g. the [[New International Version]]) make more explicit.

===Christianity===
The traditional interpretation sees the primary sin of Sodom as being homosexual intercourse,<ref>Robert A. J. Gagnon, ''The Bible and Homosexual Practice'', pp. 73–74</ref><ref>[http://www.westernsem.edu/files/westernsem/gagnon_autm05_0.pdf Gagnon, ''Why the Disagreement over the Biblical Witness on Homosexual Practice'', pp. 46–50] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512090559/http://www.westernsem.edu/files/westernsem/gagnon_autm05_0.pdf |date=2008-05-12 }}</ref> connecting the Sodom narrative with [[Leviticus 18]], which lists various sexual crimes, which, according to verses 27 and 28, would result in the land being "defiled":

{{quote|for the inhabitants of the land, who were before you, committed all of these abominations, and the land became defiled; otherwise the land will vomit you out for defiling it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.}}

Some scholars, such as Per-Axel Sverker, align this passage with the traditional interpretation, claiming that the word "[[Abomination (Bible)|abomination]]" refers to sexual misconduct, and that while homosexual acts were not the only reason Sodom and Gomorrah were condemned, it was a significant part of the picture.

Others, the earliest of whom was [[D. S. Bailey|Derrick Sherwin Bailey]], claim that this passage contradicts the traditional interpretation altogether. In their view, the sins of Sodom were related more to violation of [[hospitality]] laws than sexual sins.<ref>Derrick Bailey, ''Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition'' (Hamden: Connecticut: Archon, 1975 reprint from 1955), 4–5</ref> This also coincides with traditional Jewish interpretations of these texts.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Destruction of Sodom|url=http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/246615/jewish/The-Destruction-of-Sodom.htm|website=Chabad.org|publisher=Chabad (Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement)|access-date=4 April 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402022353/http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/246615/jewish/The-Destruction-of-Sodom.htm|archive-date=2 April 2015}}</ref>

The primary word in contention is the Hebrew word ''yâda,'' used for ''know'' in the Hebrew Bible. Biblical scholars disagree on what "know" in this instance refers to, but most of conservative Christianity interprets it to mean "sexual intercourse",<ref>Greg Bahnsen, ''Homosexuality: A Biblical View'' (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1978), p. 32.</ref><ref>''A Reformed Response to Daniel Helminiak's Gay Theology'', by Derrick K. Olliff and Dewey H. Hodges</ref> while the opposing position interprets it to mean "interrogate".<ref>John J. McNeil, ''The Church and the Homosexual'', p. 50</ref> Lot's offering of his two virgins has been interpreted to mean that Lot is offering a compromise to assure the crowd that the two men have no untoward intentions in town, or that he is offering his virgins as a substitute for the men to "know" by sexual intercourse.

Those who oppose the interpretation of sexual intent toward Lot's guests point out that there are over 930 occurrences of the Hebrew word (''yâda‛'') for "know" in the Hebrew Bible, and its use to denote sexual intercourse only occurs about a dozen times, and in the [[Septuagint]] it is not rendered sexually. Countering this is the argument that most of the uses of ''yâda‛'' denoting sex is in Genesis<ref>''Homosexuality and the Old Testament'', P. Michael Ukleja</ref> (including once for premarital sex: Genesis 38:26), and in verse 8, sex is the obvious meaning. Its use in the parallel story in Judges 19 is also invoked in support of this meaning,<ref>Dave Miller, ''Sodom: Inhospitality or Homosexuality?'', Apologetics Press</ref><ref>James B. DeYoung, ''Homosexuality'', pp. 118–122</ref> with it otherwise providing the only instance of "knowing" someone by violence.

[[Thomas Aquinas]] gave a definition of the word "sodomy" in his ''[[Summa Theologica]]''.  He wrote:<ref>[https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3154.htm ''Summa Theologica''], II–II, Question 164, Article 11 – via newadvent.org. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928135835/https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3154.htm |date=2020-09-28 }}</ref>

{{quote|by copulation with an undue sex, male with male, or female with female, as the Apostle states (Romans 1:27): and this is called the "vice of sodomy".}}

===Islam===
While the [[Quran]] clearly disapproves of the sexual practices of the "people of Lot" ("What, of all creatures do ye come unto the males, and leave the wives your Lord created for you?"<ref>Sura 26:165–167, quoted in Wafer, p. 88</ref>), only one passage has occasionally been interpreted as taking a particular legal position towards such activities:<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hQuHFPKp8L0C&pg=PA88|last=Wafer |first=Jim |chapter=Muhammad and Male Homosexuality |editor1-first=Stephen O. |editor1-last=Murray |editor2-first=Will |editor2-last=Roscoe |title=Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, History and Literature |page=88 |publisher=New York University Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-8147-7468-7 |access-date=24 July 2010}}</ref>

{{quote|And as for those who are guilty of an indecency from among your women, call to witnesses against them four (witnesses) from among you; then if they bear witness confine them to the houses until death takes them away or [[Allah]] opens some way for them (15). And as for the two who are guilty of indecency from among you, give them both a punishment; then if they repent and amend, turn aside from them; surely Allah is oft-returning (to mercy), the Merciful. (16){{Cite quran|4|15 | end=  16| translator=s| expand=no}}}}

Most exegetes hold that these verses refer to illicit heterosexual relationships, although a minority view attributed to the [[Mu'tazilite]] scholar, Abu Muslim al-Isfahani, interpreted them as referring to homosexual relations. This view was widely rejected by medieval scholars, but has found some acceptance in modern times.<ref name=EoQ>{{Cite encyclopedia|first=Everett K. |last=Rowson | year= 2006 | title=Homosexuality |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān|editor-first=Jane Dammen |editor-last=McAuliffe|publisher=Brill|volume=2|pages=444–445}}</ref>

[[Hadith]] (reports of [[Muhammad]]'s sayings and deeds from those close to him in his lifetime) on the subject are inconsistent, with different writers interpreting the Prophet in different ways.<ref>Wafer, p. 89</ref> [[Shariah]] (Islamic law) defines sodomy outside marriage as adultery or fornication or both, and it thus attracts the same penalties as those crimes (flogging or death), although the exact punishment varies with schools and scholars.<ref name="Jong">Jivraj & de Jong, p. 2</ref> In practice, few modern Muslim countries have legal systems based fully on Shariah, and an increasing number of Muslims do not look to shariah but to the Quran itself for moral guidance.<ref name="Jong"/> For sodomy within marriage, the majority of [[Shia Islam|Shiite]] interpreters hold that: (1) anal intercourse, while strongly disliked, is not ''haram'' (forbidden) provided the wife agrees; and (2) if the wife does not agree, then it is preferable to refrain.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.al-islam.org/m_morals/chap3b.htm|title=Chapter Three: The Islamic Sexual Morality (2) Its Structure|website=Al-Islam.org|date=18 October 2012|access-date=7 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016184024/http://www.al-islam.org/m_morals/chap3b.htm|archive-date=16 October 2013}}</ref>

Despite the formal disapproval of religious authority, [[Gender segregation and Islam|gender segregation in Muslim societies]] and the strong emphasis on virility leads some adolescents and unmarried young men to seek alternative sexual outlets to women, especially with males younger than themselves.<ref>Schmitt & Sofer, p. 36</ref> Not all sodomy is homosexual{{snd}}for some young men, heterosexual sodomy is considered better than vaginal penetration, and female prostitutes report demand for anal penetration from their male clients.<ref>Dialmy, pp. 32, 35, footnote 34</ref>

==See also==
* [[Ayoni]]
* [[The Bible and homosexuality]]
* [[Female sodomy]]
* [[Homosexuality and Christianity]]
* [[Prison rape]]
* [[Religion and sexuality]]

== Explanatory notes ==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== General and cited references ===
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Boswell, John, ''Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality'' (University Of Chicago Press; 8th Edition. edition, 2005).
* Crompton, Louis, ''Homosexuality and Civilization'' (Belknap Press, 2003)
* {{Cite book|last=Dialmy|first=Abdessamad|title=Which Sex Education for Young Muslims?|publisher=World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists|year=2010|url=http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/14368256/413849807/name/Which}}
* Davenport-Hines, Richard, ''Sex, Death and Punishment: Attitudes to sex and sexuality in Britain since the Renaissance'' (William Collins and Sons Ltd, 1990)
* Hays, Richard B. (2004), ''The Moral Vision of the New Testament'' (London: Continuum). pg. 381
* Goldberg, Jonathan, ''Reclaiming Sodom'' (London and New York: Routledge, 1994)
* {{Cite book|last=Jahangir|first=Junaid bin|chapter=Implied Cases for Muslim Same-Sex Unions|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PqRq1bBbT54C&q=Islam+and+homosexuality,+Volume+2&pg=PR3|editor=Samar Habib|title=Islam and homosexuality, Volume 2|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2010|isbn=978-0-313-37905-5}}
* Jordan, Mark D., ''The Invention of Sodomy in Christian Theology'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998).
* Laqueur, Thomas, ''Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud'' (Harvard University Press, 1990).
* Maccubbin, Robert Purks (ed.), '''Tis Nature's Fault: Unauthorized Sexuality During the Enlightenment'' (Cambridge University Press, 1988)
* McCormick, Ian (ed.). ''Secret Sexualities: A Sourcebook of 17th and 18th Century Writing''. (London and New York: Routledge)
* {{Cite book|last1=Schmitt|first1=Arno|last2=Sofer|first2=Jehoeda|title=Sexuality and Eroticism among Males in Muslim Societies|publisher=Haworth Press|year=1992|isbn=978-1-56024-047-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kw_BVSVmNsUC&q=Sexuality+and+eroticism+among+males+in+Moslem+societies}}
* {{Cite book|last=Schmitt|first=Arno|title=Liwat im Fiqh: Männliche Homosexualität?, Volume IV|publisher=Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies|date=2001–2002|url=http://www.uib.no/jais/content4.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110906123507/http://www.uib.no/jais/content4.htm|archive-date=2011-09-06}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Van Jivraj|first1=Suhraiya|last2=de Jong|first2=Anisa|title=Muslim Moral Instruction on Homosexuality|publisher=Yoesuf Foundation Conference on Islam in the West and Homosexuality – Strategies for Action|year=2001|url=https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:KjIohrD0R-AJ:www.safraproject.org/Reports/Muslim_Moral_Instruction_on_Homosexuality.pdf+Islam,+Homosexuality+and+Migration&hl=km&gl=kh&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESi8Wm3zisCleP-UN8czw5a7tpJLFe2ekZJF6ccbenXhff2ub-0SP0uu-fIfZvZBmHiuZ6vVJfYvaxtkKcxiMSQV-p_WTdlSR_wOVD0XVZznB9RJgtgWUUEOQNlfd8jgYiPqL4U0&sig=AHIEtbTAKkG0EQImULQIOH5QsnBAyVuR_w}}
* {{Cite book|last=Wafer|first=Jim|chapter=Mohammad and Male Homosexuality|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hQuHFPKp8L0C&q=Muhammad+and+male+homosexuality&pg=PA87|editor1=Stephen O. Murray|editor2= Will Roscoe|title=Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, History and Literature|publisher=New York University Press|year=1997|isbn=978-0-8147-7468-7}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|sodomy|buggery}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080704144443/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/sodomy.html ''Sodomy'' by Prof. Eugene F. Rice]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Sodomy| ]]
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[[Category:LGBTQ history]]
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