Peter the Great’s Sexuality: Wives, Mistresses, Men, and His Relationship with Menshikov
Was Russia’s first emperor bisexual? Or did he love only women?
Homosexuality in Ancient and Medieval Russia
Same-sex relationships and how they were viewed from Kievan Rus to Peter the Great.
Russian LGBT History
All articles →
The Homosexuality of Russian Tsars Vasily III and Ivan IV the Terrible
And who Fyodor Basmanov was.
Vladimir Nabokov and the First Attempt to Decriminalize Same-Sex Relationships in Russia
How a Russian liberal and the father of the great writer tried to abolish discriminatory legislation
The 1916 Corruption Case of a Secret Society of Gay Officials Who Wore a Golden Winged Penis Badge
How an investigation into wartime embezzlement during the First World War led to the exposure of a secret club of men who loved antiquity and other men.
Polmuzhichye and Razmuzhichye in the Russian North: A History of Female Masculinity
How women who lived 'like men' were perceived in northern Russian villages.
A History of Kissing Between Men in Russia
From Nicholas II’s Easter kisses with soldiers to Brezhnev’s fraternal kiss.
Ruler Anna Leopoldovna and the Maid of Honour Juliana: Possibly the First Documented Lesbian Relationship in Russian History
\"... she spends most of her time in the apartments of her favourite, Mengden.\"
Homosexuality in the 18th-Century Russian Empire – Homophobic Laws Borrowed From Europe and How They Were Enforced
From Peter the Great to Alexander I.
Homosexuality in Ancient and Medieval Russia
Same-sex relationships and how they were viewed from Kievan Rus to Peter the Great.
The Story of a Medieval Arabic Source in Which the Women of the 'Rus' Were Called the World's First Lesbians
It was all a translation error. The original text refers to a mythological people from the Quran.
Biographies of Russian LGBT People
All articles →
Alexander Golitsyn: A Homosexual Man at the Head of Church and Education in the Russian Empire
The story of a minister who promoted mysticism, spread the Bible, and became the target of homophobic intrigues under Alexander I.
Aleksey Apukhtin: Homosexual, Poet, and Friend of Tchaikovsky
Also the author of popular romances and poems that do not indicate the addressee's gender.
Saint Moses the Hungarian – One of the First Queer Figures in Russian History?
The life of a monk who rejected marriage, was castrated, and became a saint – and how Rozanov, Slavists, and other scholars interpreted it.
The Possible Homosexuality of Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich of the Romanov Family
A Caucasian childhood, scholarship, liberalism, and involvement in the case of Rasputin's murder — against the backdrop of a life without marriage or children.
Ivan Dmitriev, Young Favourites, and Same-Sex Desire in the Fables 'The Two Doves' and 'The Two Friends'
A friend of Karamzin and Derzhavin, minister of justice, and a fable writer where friendship turns into male love.
Andrey Avinoff: A Russian Émigré Artist, Gay Man, and Scientist
How Orthodox Christianity, butterflies, a scientific career, and male eroticism came together.
Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov: A Homosexual Member of the Imperial Family
The life of the Grand Duke — his homosexuality, childless "white marriage," service in Moscow, and death.
The Diary of Pyotr Medvedev, a Bisexual Moscow Merchant, 1854–1863
Poor relations with his wife, admiration for young men, onanism with friends, and political views.
Grigory Teplov and the Sodomy Case in 18th-Century Russia
Nine serfs accuse their master of rape.
Queerness of Russian Folklore
All articles →
LGBT Chastushkas from 20th-Century Collections
Lesbian, gay, erotic, obscene, and satirical.
Uncensored Russian Folklore: Highlights from Afanasyev’s “Russian Secret Tales”
“Sowing Dicks,” “The Fool,” and “The Soldier and the Priest.”
The Cross-Dressing Bogatyr: A Russian Bylina About Mikhailo Potyk, Who Disguises Himself as a Woman
Why does the hero put on “women’s clothing”?
Muzhik-Maslenitsa: A Maslenitsa Figure of a Man Dressed as a Woman
A cross-dressed Maslenitsa figure described in early twentieth-century Russian folklore materials.
Queer Theology
All articles →
A Queer Theological Reading of Leviticus 18:22: “Do Not Lie With a Man as With a Woman”
Why this is really about banning male incest rather than same-sex relationships.
Female Images of God in the Old Testament
Traces of the Asherah cult, maternal metaphors of the prophets, and the female face of biblical Wisdom.
Adam Before Eve: Male or Androgynous? Theological Debates From the Church Fathers to the Present Day
A full, detailed queer-theological analysis of the theory that Adam was androgynous.
What Gender Is God in the Old Testament?
A queer-theological text about the genderlessness of the Christian God.
What Is Queer Theology
How queer theory changes the reading of Scripture, tradition, and the religious experience of LGBT people.
LGBT History in Prehistory
All articles →
The First Homoerotic Image in History — The Addaura Cave Rock Engravings
Acrobats, a ritual dance, or same-sex intercourse?
A 4,600-Year-Old Burial of a 'Third-Gender' Person: What We Know and What Is Disputed
An ancient burial discovered in Prague in which a man was buried according to a female funerary rite.
Homosexuality Among Neanderthals
Is it possible? Indirect scientific evidence suggests yes.
A Homosexual Scene in Norway’s Prehistoric Art: The Bardal Petroglyphs
What exactly is carved into the rock, how it is dated, and why this interpretation remains disputed.
A Prehistoric Double Phallus from the Enfer Gorge
And Its Purpose – Magic, a Symbol of Power, or a Dildo?
LGBT History of Ancient Egypt
All articles →
A Queer Lexicon of Ancient Egypt
Exploring Ancient Egyptian terms for same-sex practices.
Divine Homosexuality in the Ancient Egyptian Myth of Horus and Seth
\"...how beautiful your buttocks are, how strong! Spread your legs,\" Seth said to Horus.
Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum: The First Same-Sex Couple in History?
Or Just Twins? A Detailed Investigation.
A Homoerotic Plot in Ancient Egyptian Literature: Pharaoh Pepi II Neferkare and General Sasenet
And their secret nighttime meetings.
The Stela of the Soldiers Ramose and Wepmose: Evidence of a Same-Sex Union in Ancient Egypt?
An analysis of stela CM004 – two men without wives and an abundance of phallic symbols of male fertility.
The Statue of Idet and Ruiu – Lesbians of Ancient Egypt?
Kinship or partnership – what the titles and the pose suggest.
Goddess Nephthys – A Lesbian?
What the sources say about the ancient Egyptian goddess of the night.
A Possible Same-Sex Intercourse Scene From Ancient Egypt – The Erotic Ostracon
Two men, or a man and a woman?
LGBT History of Ancient Mesopotamia
All articles →
LGBT History of Ancient Rome and the Etruscans
All articles →
LGBT History of Turkey
All articles →
Was Atatürk Gay or Bisexual?
What memoirs, biographies, and British intelligence reports say about the sexuality of Turkey's founder.
The Homosexuality of Sultan Mehmed II
Sources on the possible same-sex relationships of the Ottoman sultan who conquered Constantinople.
Three Ottoman Homosexual Miniatures from the Manuscript of Atâyî's Poems
An 18th-century Ottoman manuscript: how love between men was judged, mocked, and celebrated in the empire.
The Same-Sex Attraction of 15th-Century Turkish Official and Poet Ahmed Pasha to a Sultan's Page
How a scandal at the court of Mehmed II destroyed the career of an Ottoman Empire vizier.
Homoerotic Themes in Taşlıcalı Yahya Bey’s Ottoman Poem “Shah and the Beggar”
A rare example of 16th-century Turkish literature in which a man falls in love with another man.
LGBT History of China
All articles →
“The Bitten Peach”: Duke Ling of Wei and Mizi Xia as One of the Earliest Same-Sex Court Tales in Chinese History
How a Legalist parable about favoritism turned into a metaphor for same-sex love.
How Duke Xian of Jin Sent a Beautiful Youth to Another Ruler to Weaken His Court and Then Conquer His Country
A historical episode about diplomacy through a favorite at the court in Ancient China.
LGBT History of the United States and Canada
All articles →
Homoeroticism of the Victorian Era: Male Intimacy in Photographs from the 1850s–1890s in the Herbert Mitchell Collection
A gallery of portraits in which men embrace and hold hands.
The History of Mandatory Nude Swimming for Men in the US
How 20th-century sanitary rules turned YMCA pools and schools into legal spaces for gay men.
The Future President’s Secret Operation: How Franklin Roosevelt Spent a Million Dollars on a Hunt for Gay Men in the Navy
…to rid the U.S. Navy in Newport, Rhode Island, of ‘cocksuckers and rectum receivers.’
The Story of the 2016 “Twinks for Trump” Photo Shoot
Lucian Wintrich, homoerotic aesthetics, and the dispute over whether the project was propaganda or trolling.
LGBT History of the Levant
All articles →
LGBT History of Iran
All articles →
What the Ancient Greeks Wrote About Homosexuality in Persia – and How Much of It Is True
Herodotus, Plato, Plutarch, Xenophon, Aeschylus, Athenaeus, and others.
Sex Reassignment in the Islamic Republic of Iran: A Comprehensive Overview
How it became possible, what Islamic law says, and the statistics on surgeries.
Male Same-Sex Intercourse in Iran After the Islamic Revolution: Criminal Law and Prosecution Statistics
According to documented cases, between 100 and 241 executions; some estimates put the figure as high as 6,000.
The Hermitage's 'Amorous Couple': An Iranian Painting with Gender Ambiguity
An anonymous early 19th-century Iranian painting in which a beauty and a beardless youth are nearly indistinguishable.
LGBT History of Ancient Greece
All articles →
LGBT History of Africa
All articles →
LGBT History of Southeast Asia
All articles →
LGBT History of Scandinavia
All articles →
LGBT History of Video Games
All articles →
Modern World
All articles →
History of Sexuality
All articles →
Columns
All columns →
Book News
All new books →English
"Radical Belonging" — William Cavins's Book on Queer Theology and the Gospel of Inclusion
A book by American bishop William R. Cavins on queer theology and the Gospel of Inclusion.
English
\"A Lesbian Queer Utopia?!\" — A Book by M.A. Seewald on a Community on Lesvos and Feminist Futures
A sociological study of a lesbian-queer community on the Greek island of Lesvos.
English
\"Dirty Dragging\" — A Book by Evelyn Annuß on Queer Performance Under Racism and Nazism
A study of queer drag theory in the contexts of apartheid, Nazism, and Jim Crow.
Spanish
\"Queer Pasts in Latin America\" — A Collection by Santiago Joaquín Insausti on the History of Sexuality in the 20th Century
The first collection on Latin American queer history, covering Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico.