The Great Mirror of Same-Sex Love - Prose - 91. AC Benus "Can you imagine?"

Castor and Pollux, 17th century star chart

Ancient Roman copy of Greek portrait of Castor and Pollux

During my first posting in the military, I frequently visited a beach on a nearby reservoir.  Though it was a hangout for a wide spectrum of the population, a number of the regulars were Gay - my first exposure to a group of men who would even hint as to their sexual orientation.  In conversing with them, the word "friend" was regularly used with a specific emphasis which made the meaning quite clear.

13 minutes ago, Backwoods Boy said:

During my first posting in the military, I frequently visited a beach on a nearby reservoir.  Though it was a hangout for a wide spectrum of the population, a number of the regulars were Gay - my first exposure to a group of men who would even hint as to their sexual orientation.  In conversing with them, the word "friend" was regularly used with a specific emphasis which made the meaning quite clear.

Yes, indeed. Most of the anthologies on same-sex love published before Stonewall use some variant of friend in the title. There's another essay kicking around in my noodle about which language is 'gayer' -- French or English. The answer is pretty clear, but it involves peeling back the layers of cover-up happening since the concept of Gay people having a "condition" began to circulate widely.

That's why I'm fascinated to learn that Freund in German retains all of its traditional meanings, like boyfriend, partner, lover, spouse, husband, mate. German is not alone though, and amico in Italian is basically the same    

And on Peter indeed has the church indeed been built. Oh my, what a whole new view! 

Very interest information AC!  I did have fun looking up the meaning of the disciple's names.  The one that got me laughing was Phillip.  It's Greek and means "horse-loving".

5 hours ago, raven1 said:

Very interest information AC!  I did have fun looking up the meaning of the disciple's names.  The one that got me laughing was Phillip.  It's Greek and means "horse-loving".

Thanks, Terry. Interestingly enough, Apostles Phillip and Bartholomew are actually named as a couple in the same-sex wedding ceremonies the Church offered people starting in the 7th century; the exact same moment the Church began offering opposite-sex wedding ceremonies. It was at this time the bureaucracy of the Roman world finally fell apart and Churches had to step in to perform civil affairs.   

Lest anyone feel that a few minutes spent romping the interwebs will provide them with "facts" to dispute my hard-won knowledge, I'd say they have to read at least as much as I have on the subject. To that end, I've typed up this very bare-bones bibliography for those wishing to get caught up (naturally, there are many more titles to explore). It took me a lot longer than five minutes to pull these tomes from my shelf and document them, but I feel one must defend, defend, defend against Gay-erasure everywhere it lurks in the dark. People who challenge dearly held mis-beliefs owe it to those who'll come after to cite, cite, cite, till the cows come home

- Theodore W. Jennings, Junior The Man Jesus Loved: Homoerotic Narratives from the New Testament (Cleveland 2003)

- Will Roscoe Jesus and the Shamanistic Tradition of Same-Sex Love (San Francisco 2004)

- Theodore W. Jennings, Junior Jacob’s Wound: Homoerotic Narratives in the Literature of Ancient Israel (New York 2005)

- Martti Nissinen Homoerotism in the Biblical World: A Historical Perspective [Kirsi Stjerna, Translator] (Minneapolis 1998)

- The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ: from an Ancient Manuscript Recently Discovered in a Buddhist Monastery in Tibet by Nicholas Notovitch [Virchard R. Gandhi, Editor] (Chicago 1907)

- Burton L. Mack The Lost Gospel: The Book of Q and Christian Origins (Brisbane 1993)

- Bart D. Ehrman The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot: A New Look at Betrayer and Betrayed (Oxford 2006)

- James H. Wilson Iscariot’s Bitter Love (London 1912)