The first record of a possible homosexual male couple in history is commonly regarded as Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum, an ancient Egyptian couple, who lived around 2400 BCE. Some scholars, such as Michel Foucault, have regarded this as risking the anachronistic introduction of a contemporary construction of sexuality foreign to their times, though other scholars challenge this. Many historical figures, including Socrates, Lord Byron, Edward II, and Hadrian, have had terms such as gay or bisexual applied to them. The condemnation of anal sex between males, however, predates Christian belief. In cultures influenced by Abrahamic religions, the law and the church established sodomy as a transgression against divine law or a crime against nature. Other scholars argue that there are significant similarities between ancient and modern male homosexuals.
Furthermore, there were diverse sexual practices that varied in acceptance depending on time and place. Some scholars argue that the terms "homosexual" and "gay" are problematic when applied to men in ancient cultures since, for example, neither Greeks or Romans possessed any one word covering the same semantic range as the modern concept of "homosexuality". Main articles: LGBT history, Timeline of LGBT history, and History of homosexuality 5.2 Contemporary Western media representations.5.1 Historical Western media representations.5 Representations of gay men in Western media.4 Gay men's contemporary art and culture.3 Legal status of gay men in modern society.By the end of the 20th century, however, the word gay was recommended by LGBT groups and style guides to describe all people exclusively attracted to members of the same sex, while lesbian referred specifically to female homosexuals, and gay men referred exclusively to male homosexuals. For example, the term gay bar still often refers to a bar which caters primarily to a homosexual male clientele or is otherwise part of gay men's culture. In Europe, Xavier Bettel currently serves as the prime minister of Luxembourg Leo Varadkar serves as the deputy head of the Government of Ireland (he was Taoiseach (Prime Minister) from June 2017 to June 2020) and from 2011 to 2014, Elio Di Rupo served as Prime Minister of Belgium.įor a time, the term gay was used as a synonym for anything related to homosexual men. In the United States, many gay men still face discrimination in their daily lives, though some openly gay men have reached national success and prominence. Gay men continue to face significant discrimination in large parts of the world, including in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Historically, gay men have been referred to by a number of different terms, including inverts and uranians.
Some bisexual and homoromantic men may also dually identify as gay, and a number of young gay men today also identify as queer.