: 225 Pederasty in ancient Rome was acceptable only when the younger partner was a prostitute or slave. Most sodomy related laws in Western civilization originated from the growth of Christianity during Late Antiquity. Intolerance of same-sex acts appears to have intensified in the Roman empire in the late 4th century in 390 the emperor Theodosius ordered that male prostitutes were to be publicly burned, although it is uncertain to what extant this decree was actually carried out. Note that today some Christian denominations allow gay marriage and the ordination of gay clergy. Starting in the 1200s, the Roman Catholic Church launched a massive campaign against sodomites, especially homosexuals.
Between the years 12, homosexual activity was radically criminalized in most of Europe, even punishable by death. In England, Henry VIII introduced the first legislation under English criminal law against sodomy with the Buggery Act of 1533, making buggery punishable by hanging, a penalty not lifted until 1861.įollowing Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, the crime of sodomy has often been defined only as the 'abominable and detestable crime against nature', or some variation of the phrase. This language led to widely varying rulings about what specific acts were encompassed by its prohibition. 1933: Denmark (includes Greenland and the Faroe Islands).