Let see what historians wrote about sodomy in closer times than now.
Sodomy (pronounced /ˈsɒdəmi/) is a term used today predominantly in law (derived from traditional Christian usage) to describe the act of anal intercourse, oral intercourse, or bestiality.
Philo
The Hellenistic Jewish philosopher Philo (20 BC - 50 AD) described the inhabitants of Sodom in an extra biblical account:
"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)
Josephus
The Jewish historian Josephus used the term “Sodomites” in summarizing the 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 any thing 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 [1] — circa A.D. 96). 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.
Justinian I and Byzantine power politics of late antiquity
The primarily sexual meaning of the word sodomia for Christians did not evolve before the 500s AD. Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, in his novels no. 77 (dating 538) and no. 141 (dating 559) amended to his Corpus iuris civilis, and 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",[2] during a time of recent earthquakes and other disasters.
Justinian's were not the first Roman laws prohibiting homosexual behavior. Earlier such measures had been included in the Lex Scantinia dating from 149 BC and the Lex Julia dating from 17 BC, both constituting the death penalty for homosexual behavior. Allegations exist that even before Lex Scantinia such laws existed, but direct evidence of these laws has been lost[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. 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 mundane but also divine punishment for homosexual behavior. Individuals might ignore and escape mundane laws, but they could not do the same with divine laws, if Justinian declared his novels to be such.
Christians earlier than Justinian are also seen to denounce same-sex relations. St. John Chrysostom in the fourth century regarded such as worse than murder in his fourth homily on Romans 1:26,27 [3], while Paul the Apostle in the Epistle to the Romans referred to same sex relations as "shameful lust" and which acts were contrary to nature, with men suffering a "due penalty" in their bodies. Just like the Jews, early Christians prior to Justinian I are not known to have used the word sodomia for the carnal sin they abhorred, though Philo of Alexandria (20 BC - 50 AD)[10] and Methodius of Olympus (AD 260-312)[11] attributed homosexual relations to Sodom, as may have Josephus, (AD 37 – c. 100)[12][13] Augustine of Hippo, (AD 354-430)[14] and certain pseudepigraphacal texts.[15][16][17]
Sodomy laws in the United States
From the earliest times in the United States, sodomy (variously defined) was prohibited, although some historians suggest that early sodomy laws were mainly used to address issues of non-consensual behavior, or public behavior. The earliest known United States law journal article dealing with sodomy was in 1905 in West Virginia. Attorney E.D. Leach argued that "perverted sexual natures" were related to crime. "Sodomy, rape, lust-murder, bodily injury, theft, robbery, torture of animals, injury to property and many other crimes may be committed under these conditions." 18th and 19th century judges often editorialized about the act of sodomy as they handed down their rulings. "That most detestable sin", the "horrid act", "the horrible crime", "that which is unfit to be named among Christians" characterized some of the language used by British and American jurists when punishing sodomites. Emphasis is usually on the notion that the act of anal penetration is so offensive "to God almighty" that the term Sodomy (literally, that which occurred in Sodom) is the only appropriate way of designating the activity. In other words, it was understood that when reference was made to "an unspeakable act" having occurred, it was clear that the act in question was none other than anal penetration. Some say, however, that the "Sin of Sodom" accurately referred not to anal penetration but rather to the agglomeration of ALL the unholy activities said to have occurred in Sodom and that it is thus inaccurate to imply a one-to-one relationship.
In the 1950s, all states had some form of law criminalizing sodomy, and in 1986 the United States Supreme Court ruled that nothing in the United States Constitution bars a state from prohibiting sodomy. However, state legislators and state courts had started to repeal or overturn their sodomy laws, beginning with Illinois in 1961, and thus in 2003, only 10 states had laws prohibiting all sodomy, with penalties ranging from 1 to 15 years imprisonment. Additionally, four other states had laws that specifically prohibited same-sex sodomy. That year the United States Supreme Court reversed its 1986 Bowers v. Hardwick ruling and in Lawrence v. Texas, invalidated these laws as being an unconstitutional violation of privacy, with Sandra Day O'Connor's concurring opinion arguing that they violated equal protection. See Sodomy law.
In the U.S. military, the United States Army Court of Criminal Appeals has ruled that the Lawrence v. Texas decision applies to Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the statute banning sodomy. In both United States v. Stirewalt and United States v. Marcum, the court ruled that the "conduct falls within the liberty interest identified by the Supreme Court."[18] However, the court went on to say that despite Lawrence's application to the military, Article 125 can still be upheld in cases where there are "factors unique to the military environment" which would place the conduct "outside any protected liberty interest recognized in Lawrence."[19] Examples of such factors could be fraternization, public sexual behavior, or any other factors that would adversely affect good order and discipline.
United States v. Meno and United States v. Bullock are two known cases in which consensual sodomy convictions have been overturned in military courts under the Lawrence precedent.[20]
Evolution of the term in other languages
In modern French, the word “sodomie” (and in modern Spanish, the word “sodomía”
is used exclusively for penetrative anal sex (where the penetration is performed with a penis or a substitute of similar shape such as a [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse], possibly a strap-on [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse], thus any gender can be on the giving or receiving end). The matching French verb is "sodomiser" (Spanish "sodomizar"). In modern German, the word “Sodomie” has no connotation of anal or oral sex, and refers specifically to zoophilia. (See Paragraph 175 StGB, version of June 28, 1935. Google It if you wish.) The same goes for the Norwegian word “sodomi” and the Polish "sodomia". “Sodomy”, therefore, can be considered a 'false friend,' a word that English speakers will think they know the meaning of, but which actually holds a different, though in this case related, meaning. Responsible for this was the broadening of the term sodomia by Benedictus Levita.
Popular use
The word "sod", a noun or verb (to "sod off") used as an insult, derives from sodomite.[21][1] It is a general-purpose insult term for anyone the speaker dislikes or despises, without specific reference to their sexual behaviour. Sod is used as slang in the UK and Commonwealth and is mildly offensive.
Notes:
~1 ^ sodomy laws
~2 trans. in Derrick Sherwin Bailey, Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition, (London: Longmans, Green, 1955), 73-74
~3 ^ VALERI MAXIMI FACTORVM ET DICTORVM MEMORABILIVM LIBRI NOVEM, volume VI, section V ff
~4 ^ Article on struprum cum mastulo by W. Kroll in Pauly-Wissowa (ed.), Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, 1921
~5 ^ On supplicium fustuarium, public beating to death for same-sex behavior in Rome long before Lex scantinia, see Polybios, The Histories, volume VI, chapter 37
~6 ^ See article Päderastie by M. H. E. Meier in Ersch & Gruber (eds.), Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste
~7 ^ Theodor Mommsen, Römisches Strafrecht, 1899, p. 703f (in English as Roman Criminal Law)
~8 ^ Wilhelm Rein, Das Criminalrecht der Römer von Romulus bis auf Justinianus ("Roman Criminal Law from Romulus up to Justinian I"), 1844, p. 864
~9 ^ Gisela Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg, Tabu Homosexualität - Die Geschichte eines Vorurteils ("The taboo of homosexuality: The history of a prejudice"), 1978, p. 187
~10 ^ Jewish philosopher, Writing on the life of Abraham
~11 ^ Commentary on the sin of Sodom
~12 ^ Antiquities 1.11.1
~13 ^ 33-34; ET Jonge 422-23; The Sodom tradition in Romans Biblical Theology Bulletin, Spring, 2004 by Philip F. Esler
~14 ^ Confessions. Commenting on the story of Sodom from Genesis 19
~15 ^ Testament of Benjamin; Concerning a Pure Mind, 9:1
~16 ^ Testament of Naphtali, 3.5
~17 ^ Book of the Secrets of Enoch (Slavonic Apocalypse of) 10:4; in J recension Ch. I.118 (late 1st cent. AD)
~18^ U.S. v. Stirewalt
~19^ U.S. v. Marcum
~20^ United States v. Meno, United States Court of Criminal Appeals
~21 Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary. Main Entry: sod[3,noun]. "Etymology: short for sodomite. Date: 1818."]
