Gay marriage goes WAY back
Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 03:00:58 PM PDT
So much for "preserving" the "institution" of marriage: - a great new article about the very long history of gay marriage on MSNBC:
Civil unions between male couples existed around 600 years ago in medieval Europe, a historian now says.
Historical evidence, including legal documents and gravesites, can be interpreted as supporting the prevalence of homosexual relationships hundreds of years ago, said Allan Tulchin of Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania.
And of course, we know the conspicuously ambiguous story of David and Saul in the Bible.
For example, he found legal contracts from late medieval France that referred to the term "affrèrement," roughly translated as brotherment. Similar contracts existed elsewhere in Mediterranean Europe, Tulchin said.
In the contract, the "brothers" pledged to live together sharing "un pain, un vin, et une bourse," (that's French for one bread, one wine and one purse). The "one purse" referred to the idea that all of the couple's goods became joint property. Like marriage contracts, the "brotherments" had to be sworn before a notary and witnesses, Tulchin explained.
The article goes on to explain that only some of these were actually likely to be sexual relationships, but the point is that there was recognition for legal contracts that granted the rights now associated with marriage. Some analysis needs to be made into when the opposition to such contracts began and why.
When do we finally get to throw the hate mongers who use religion as their excuse into an institution and let them talk about preserving that one instead for a while?
Sign the Million for Marriage petition!
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