Same-Sex Sexual Relations in Antiquity and Sexuality and Sexual Identity in Contemporary American Society

In antiquity sexual identity was based on the natural fact of sex. Genitals determined gender. For ancient Israel the binary differentiation of male and female served as the structuring of both the natural and social worlds, and was guarded by the Holiness Code of Lev. 17. Same-sex sexual relations were forbidden, at least explicitly to men, and Christianity adopted and transmitted this ideology. The homosexuality that is condemned in the letters ascribed to Paul: Romans, 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy is identifiable as pederasty. There are no ancient texts that suggest that homosexual relationships existed between same-age adults. The word homosexuality first appeared in an English dictionary in 1892. Today the taxonomy of male and female is being subverted by science and technology.