Same Sex Behavior In Indigenous Culture

The differences between the European and Indigenous perspectives on homosexuality have always been glaring.  For the Europeans, it was a gross sin, something to be hidden away and denied with your very dying breath.  The various indigenous tribes around the world not only embraced it, but they often exalted it.

When the Spanish arrived in the "New World" after Christopher Columbus's infamous voyage, they encountered a culture drastically different than their own.  Of all the strange habits that the Spanish encountered in their explorations of this new land, they were least prepared for the wide practiced custom of homosexuality.  Not only was homosexuality widely accepted by every social class, it was also glorified in objects that served as temple art as well as being depicted on jewelry.  Even Montezuma, the Aztec god-king, was said to have sexual relations with the young warriors who were about to be ritually sacrificed.

In his first report to Emperor Charles V, Cortés wrote that the Native Americans of Mexico "are all sodomites and have recourse to that abominable sin."  Another writer, López de Gomara, called the indigenous people "sodomitic like no other generation of men."  A Catholic priest said that sodomy was virtually universal among the Aztecs.  He ran into numerous male prostitutes as well as unmarried temple priests engaging in sodomy while visiting the area in question.

As the European conquerors made their way across the North American Continent, they were continuously horrified by the sexuality they encountered.  La Salle's expedition in the upper Mississippi Valley in the 1690s found Native American men were even more fascinated by young boys more than they were by women, and this fascination engendered an effeminacy in those young boys, which only further inflamed the European hatred.  In 1702, the French explorer Pierre Liette wrote that the Illinois Confederation put all other nations to shame in regards to the "sin of sodomy."  "The young men, Liette continued, didn't seem satisfied by women alone, so 'there are men who are bred for this purpose from their childhood."

Homosexual behavior was not limited to what Europeans considered effeminate males, either.  The Native Americans were so uninhibited about homosexuality, in fact, that a masculine warrior could take the passive role in sex with another warrior without it having any effect whatsoever on his gender identity.

The Institution of what our modern scholars have called "the Two-Spirit" amongst the Native Tribes of the Americas was perhaps the most perplexing piece of Native American sexuality for the Europeans.  The respect that these individuals were shown within Native culture baffled the Europeans.  They were honored socially and given premiere standing within religious ceremonies and institutions.  Because of the spiritual connection that the Native Tribes ascribed to the Two-Spirit individuals among them, there is often a strong connection between Two-Spirits and medicine men and women.  (Due to the robust nature of this institution among the various native tribes, it is better to only skim the surface here and address this topic at another time in its own post.)

Homosexuality was treated in much the same way by other indigenous peoples around the world as it was by the native tribes of the Americas.  For the native peoples of the Pacific, homosexuality was the standard sexual outlet for unmarried men within a large number of tribes.  In the Bangala of the Congo sodomy between men was not only common, it was regarded without shame.  Homosexuality was also reported as being commonplace between men of the Tutsi and Hutu tribes of Rwanda.

Whether you're talking the Americas, Asia, Africa, or anywhere else for that matter, homosexuality appeared in one form or another and served various functions from social regulation and releasing sexual tensions to indications of an individual's calling towards a sacred duty within the spirituality of the tribe.


All quotes and much of the information from this post come from James Neill's book: The Origins and Role of Same-Sex Relations in Human Society.  If you enjoyed the information relayed here, consider purchasing his book for yourself.  It's a wealth of information!

The Couretes

Joseph Campbell is quoted as having said:

“Myth basically serves four functions. The first is the mystical function, realizing what a wonder the universe is, and what a wonder you are, and experiencing awe before this mystery.  The second is a cosmological dimension, the dimension with which science is concerned – showing you what shape the universe is, but showing it in such a way that the mystery again comes through. The third function is the sociological one – supporting and validating a certain social order. It is the sociological function of myth that has taken over in our world – and it is out of date. But there is a fourth function of myth, and this is the one that I think everyone must try today to relate to – and that is the pedagogical function, of how to live a human lifetime under any circumstances.”

I generally tend to agree with Joseph Campbell on almost everything he wrote.  The man was brilliant!  However, I do have to disagree with him on one part of this quote.  I do not think that the sociological function of myth is out of date when it comes to Gay people.  In fact, I think all four functions of myth are imminently important to the construction of a healthy sense of self for modern-day Gay people.

Our stories have been wiped from the pages of history by bigotry, hate, and fear, and that makes building a positive self-identity incredibly difficult.  Gather enough insecure people together, and you build a community of people who are potentially destructive to both themselves and others.  Ask any Gay man (who doesn't fit the ideal of what Gay male beauty currently is) what he thinks of the bars, the clubs, the Gay Scene, or the Gay Community in general, and he will undoubtedly have some pretty choice words for you.

I believe that reclaiming Gay myth and using it to encourage Gay People to embrace their innate power through those myths would be one excellent way to heal the damage that has been done to Gay People (individually and as a community) over the years.

Compare Campbell's four functions of myth with the Gay Community you know.  Wouldn't that Community have been better if gay men actually realized the wonder that they were and the power they have innately inside themselves?  What if they could find beauty, wonder, and mystery in the world around them, instead of feeling like everything was against them, or that it was lackluster, or that there was no joy to be had and nothing to be done about it?  How would the Gay Community be different if gay men had that kind of hope?  How about if Gay men could find a useful and APPRECIATED place for themselves within society, instead of being the bud of straight culture's jokes?  How would that have shaped the Community differently?  Finally, what would Campbell's fourth function of myth have done to help Gay Men persevere through the struggles?  How would that inspiration have united us instead of allowing us to tear each other down?

As I said, in general, I agree with Campbell, but because the Gay Community is just starting to emerge from its centuries of silence (in the cosmic order, we're relatively young), I truly believe that this budding community needs its myth, it needs a chance to reach its roots into richer soil than our modern culture has sown these last two thousand years.

So, let me start with the Couretes, because, through them, I think you gain access to a purpose for gay men that fits directly in line with the kin-selection hypothesis discussed last time.  When Cronus set about eating his children, Rhea was distraught.  There was very little she could do to stop him.  It wasn't until her baby Zeus was born that she had had enough.  During her contractions Rhea clawed at the earth in pain, and magically, five beautiful men emerged from the grooves her fingers made in the soil.  Rhea gave her new-born son over to these men (his brothers), who became known as the Couretes.

The Couretes were a band of dancing warriors who banged their spears against their shields as they danced around the fire.  It was this ritual, which they used to protect the infant god Zeus (and later on his son Dionysus).  As baby Zeus cried out in the night, the Couretes danced wildly to the sound of their spears clanging against the metal of their shields.  As the myth goes, it is only because of these dancing warriors that Zeus grew into adulthood and was later able to reign upon Olympus.

While nothing in the mythology itself comes right out and specifically declares that these men were attracted to other men sexually (at least not any more), there are two key indicators that seem to reveal this truth within the written mythology.  Whenever these keys show up in any mythic story, they generally tend to mean that the mythic figure being talked about has some sexual or romantic attraction to other men.

The first among these is the reference to these men being "beautiful."  Whenever the writers of mythology go out of their way to associate male beauty with a particular figure, that is the first indicator that he may very well be attracted to other men.  You see it time and time again.  Apollo (the god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague, poetry, and beauty), Xochipilli (the Aztec god of games, beauty, dance, flowers, and song), and Dionysus, the god who sat down on a thyrsos (a pine cone tipped staff) to symbolize Priapus's phallus, is often portrayed as a beautiful young man.

Second only to the beauty reference is the connection with dance.  Both Xochipilli and Dionysus have connections to ecstatic dance, and Apollo is connected to the music that generates it.  Another god with homosexual leanings who is connected to dance is Shiva.  In fact, dance is so instrumental in Shiva's mythology that the most easily-recognizable image of him portrays him dancing on the back of a demon.  Shiva's claim to homosexuality lies with the Hindu Fire God, Agni.  The two lovers play a game where Agni goes down on Shiva, attempting to get the god's seed.  In turn, Shiva attempts to hold back and enjoy the pleasure for as long as possible.

Assuming that my reading of this myth is right and that the kin-selection hypothesis holds true, the Couretes would make an excellent resource for modern day gay men who wish to reclaim their rightful place within their communities.  They are guardians of the next generation who have all the strength and power of male warriors, who choose to stay back and use their skill for protection and defense, instead of aggression.

The Argument for a Fertile Homosexuality

In my last post, I turned to evolutionary biology to make the case for homosexuality as a natural part of the cycles of fertility, justifying the inclusion of gay people in those occult traditions which are centered around the fertility cults.

For the longest time, admitting gay men and lesbians into their covens was a huge issue within some witchcraft circles.  Though nobody would go so far as to publicly declare that gay men and lesbians were NOT a part of fertility, there was a decided lack of knowledge about how we fit into the cycles of fertility, and, therefore, how to include us in fertility cult traditions.

Even gay men and lesbians, themselves, lacked (and still lack) a coherent and universally recognized theory for their own roles within the cycles of fertility (both in and out of occult circles).  For many of us, finding a partner, settling down, and raising a family was/is viewed as "playing it straight."  In fact,  back when I was coming out (in the 90s), gay men my age and older would dramatically roll their eyes whenever I said that I wanted to get married.  A few of them even went so far as to attempt to shame me for "trying to be something I wasn't," and no amount of arguing that we deserved to be treated as equals with straight people would persuade them that I wasn't engaged in some radical form of self-loathing.

Our ancestors did not share in this lack of knowledge about the role that gay people played in the cycles of fertility.  According to James Neill (author of The Origins and Role of Same-Sex Relations in Human Society), paleoanthropologists who studied the behavior of early humans believe that one of the primary factors in the success of these early peoples was the evolution of group behavior and interdependence.  As our species developed, smaller societies and clans began to function as one organism, with individual personalities beginning to emerge and everyone contributing to the well-being of the larger whole in his or her own way.  Exclusively homosexual males have been documented performing a range of tasks from providing a "special friendship" to warriors on campaign to caring for the sick for these early clans.  However, regarding the concept of fertility and what we would call gay men, the most interesting fact about exclusively homosexual males in these early clans is that they were protectors of the domestic sphere.  They assisted the women in gathering nuts, berries, tubers, and firewood, but they also served as guardians in case the tribe was attacked while the other men were away at war.

Neill says it best: "With no children of their own to absorb their energies, these homosexual members would have been better able to assist their close relatives.  The presence of these non-reproducing adults would have had the effect of increasing the proportion of productive workers in the total population of adults and children, thereby raising the per capita productivity of the group in their efforts to bring in such necessities as food and firewood, and in tending to domestic chores.  Because of the extra help these individuals [exclusive homosexuals] would have provided, their close relatives would have been able to successfully raise more children, and the ability of the group as a whole to survive would have been enlarged." (p. 72)

An argument might even be made that families with access to these exclusive homosexual members thrived while other families without exclusively homosexual members perished … or, at the very least, were less successful.  It might even be said that most of us today owe our existence to exclusively homosexual ancestors, because, without them, our particular ancestral lines might have died out long ago.  Within the terms of evolutionary biology, this scenario is referred to as the "kin-selection hypothesis."  So, contrary to the popular opinion today that gay people are completely removed from the cycles of fertility, if evolutionary biology and, specifically, the kin-selection hypothesis are correct, it would seem that gay people have a long and deeply rooted tradition of assisting the fertility of their family, tribe, clan, or community.

Homosexuality & Fertility

With the celebration of the Spring Equinox having just passed, it only seems appropriate to talk about the role of homosexuality in the natural cycles of fertility.

Many opponents of homosexuality (most notably the Christian Right) believe that it is unnatural, and, being unnatural, it should not be tolerated.  It is rare to find a magic(k)al organization or individual who feels as staunchly as the Christians in question do on this subject, but the outcropping of this prejudice does appear within the stratum of many modern magic(k)al communities.

Traditional Wiccan covens, specifically British Traditional Wiccan (BTW) Covens, (and I speak of this, because it's what I know best, certainly not because this is the only place in Wicca or witchcraft that it happens) have a long history of denying gay men and lesbians entry into their ranks due to concerns regarding polarity and what it takes to light that magic spark.  Over time, many covens loosened their restrictions, allowing Gay men and Lesbians into their circles, but only if the initiate agreed to practice within the coven as part of a heterosexual pairing, only if they agreed to be initiated by a person of the opposite gender/sex.  Even today, there is a great debate going on within the British Traditional Witchcraft community about polarity, cross-gender initiations, and how to handle Gay male, Lesbian, and Transgender initiates.

While it is tempting to shake our fists and rail against the system on this subject, one really cannot fault the BTW community.  At the very heart of their argument and, consequently, at the heart of their resistance to the concept of homosexuality within the coven dynamic is a reverence for their traditions and a desire to preserve what they know for a fact works.  When their covens were originally formed, they simply did not have access to the level of information that we have at our fingertips today, in the Internet Age.  Furthermore, even today, with all the information that we have at our disposal, nobody can agree on the correct procedures for a great deal of information that is fundamentally central to the practice of Witchcraft.  On the most basic level, you have eclectic, self-taught Wiccans/witches arguing that their self-initiations are valid, while a great deal of the coven or tradition-based witches argue that it is essential to be part of an initiatory Coven to truly learn the Craft.  Even within the initiatory lines of Wicca/witchcraft, you have a great deal of disagreement.  The Gardnerians and Alexandrians both believe they are the standard, but back in the day, Robert Cochrane dubbed Gardner's group of witches "those Gardnerians" as an insult to differentiate his group (who was obviously doing it right) from theirs (who were obviously doing it wrong), and, since I mentioned Cochrane, don't even get me started on the Traditional Witchcraft and Wicca divide!

All that said, I would like to go on record, and say that as a gay male witch with BTW training, who went off and started a tradition of witchcraft that explores the male mysteries within covens of Gay and Bisexual men, homosexuality is most certainly a part of fertility, and, now that we have access to more information, it is the perfect time for new methods of working these old systems to crop up and flourish.

In evolutionary biology, there is a principle which says that if a structure, function, or behavior occurs in a number of individuals or species, and if it persists through several generations, then that feature can be presumed to serve some evolutionary function.  Homosexuality can be traced back to well-before the dawn of civilization.  We have written records of homosexuality dating back to Mesopotamia.  The Epic of Gilgamesh (the oldest written myth known to man) is about a loving and sexual relationship between what we, today, would consider a demi-god and his male lover.  If that one fact alone doesn't prove that homosexuality has been persistent through several generations, I don't know what else would!

If this foundational principle within evolutionary biology is sound and credible (and, personally, I believe that it is), then the "naturalness" of homosexuality when considered outside of personal prejudice should not need to be argued.  However, what one person calls prejudice, another calls preference, and since I am not here to talk anyone out of their beliefs (only to offer my own), I will simply present the argument and let you, dear reader, decide for yourself whether it is compelling or not.

Tune in next time for the argument …