Internet History Sourcebooks Project

People with a History: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans* History Sourcebook

Homosexuality and Catholicism Bibliography:
Section II: General Lesbian and Gay History

See also the History of Homosexuality Bibliography which is updated more frequently.

[No attempt is made here to be comprehensive: Just the more important secondary sources on lesbian, gay and bisexual history are listed]

A: General

Aries, Philippe & Andre Bejin, eds., Western Sexuality: Practice and Precept in Past and Present, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1985; orig. pub. as Sexualities Occidentales, Paris: Editions du Seuil/Communications, 1982)

Bullough, Vern L., Sexual Variance in Society and History, (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1976)
Large scale survey of both western and eastern cultures in all historical periods. Groundbreaking work, but only a beginning. Has one of few discussions of Byzantine homosexuality. Has good references and foot notes.

Bullough, Vern L., Homosexuality: A History, (New York: New American Library, 1979)

Bullough, Vern L. and Bonnie Bullogh, Cross-Dressing, Sex, and Gender, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvanis Press, 1993)

Coote, Stephen, ed., The Penguin Book of Homosexual Verse, (Harmondsworth: Allen Lane, Penguin, 1983)

Poetry from Homer to today.

Duberman, Martin Bauml, Martha Vincus and George Chauncey, eds. Hidden From History, New York: NAL, 1989)

An important collection of essays and articles on a broad stretch of lesbian and gay history. Very informative introduction on basic parameters.

Foucault, Michel, History of Sexuality, Vol I: An Introduction, (New York: Pantheon, 1978)
Almost more like a meditation than history. Leading French structuralist applies his view of human society, already seen in his history of madness, to sexuality. Argues that sexuality is "constructed" in each society, in a similar manner to language/grammar. This goes against Boswell's idea of "homosexuality" as a continuing part of the human condition. Foucault's ideas, along with Levi-Strauss's have heavily influenced other modern gay historians such as Weeks and Katz, who however, set the formation of modern homosexual consciousness at different periods. The conflict between Boswell and the others is as much an issue of philosophy as history.

Garber, Marjorie, Vested Interests: Cross-Dressing and Cultural Anxiety, ( London: Routledge, 1992; pb. New York: HarperPerenniel, 1993)

Discusses transvestism throughout history. Excellent references but no bibliography.

Garde, Noel I., Jonathan to Gide: The Homosexual in History, (New York: Vantage Press, 1964)
Biographical sketches of 303 men in chronological orders. Gives the refs. that justify each inclusion.

Greenberg, David F., The Construction of Homosexuality, (Chicago: Chicago UP, 1988)
Recent exposition of the social construction school. Has an extensive historical survey.

Reviews

Boswell, John, "Books: Gay History", Atlantic Feb 1989; 263:2 p. 74-78

Brundage, James A, Church History Mar 1991; 60:1 p. 148-149

Browning, Don, The Christian Century 106 p911-916 October 11 1989

Wilcox, Donald J., The Journal of Religion 70 p278-280 April 1990

Religious Humanism 24 p144-145 Summer 1990

Jennings, Kevin, Becoming Visible : A Reader in Gay and Lesbian History for High School and College Students, (Boston: Alyson, 1994)

Karlen, Arno, Sexuality and Homosexuality: A New View, (New York: W.W. Norton, 1971)
Early overview. No footnotes, Superseded by Bullough's Sexual Variance.

Lerner, Gerda, The Creation of Patriarchy, (New York: Oxford UP, 1986)

Licata Salvatore J., & Robert P. Petersen, eds., The Gay Past: A Collection of Historical Essays, (New York; Haworth, 1985), repr. of Historical Perspectives on Homosexuality (1981), originally Journal of Homosexuality 6:1/2 (Fall/Winter 1980), 11-26

Very useful edition of interdisciplinary journal. Many of the articles are cited elsewhere. The publishers republish the issues of this journal as books. The essays cover the early modern and modern period.

Taylor, G. Rattray, Sex in History, (pb. New York; Harper and Row, 1973)

Based on a too easy dichotomy between women-esteeming and women-denying societies. Argues that the latter are the ones which denigrate homosexuality.

Vanggaard, Thorkil, Phallos: A Symbol and Its History in the Male World, (New York: International Universities Press, 1974)

B: Ancient and Medieval

Cantarella, Eva, Bisexuality in the Ancient World, (New Haven: Yale UP, 1992)

Covey, Herbert C, "Perceptions and Attitudes toward Sexuality of the Elderly during the Middle Ages", Gerontologist Feb 1989; 29:1 p. 93-100

[Abstract from electronic database]:The proposals that thoughts on the ages of life excluded the elderly from having normal sex lives and that the church of the Middle Ages defined sexual behavior by the elderly as immoral are examined.

Dover, Kenneth J., Greek Homosexuality, Updated ed. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1989, c1978; paperback, New York: Random House)
Standard work on ancient Greek homosexuality.

Downing, Christine, "Diotima and Alcibiades: an alternative reading of the Symposium", Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal 72 Winter 1989, 631-655

Goodich, Michael, The Unmentionable Vice: Homosexuality in the Late Medieval Period, (Santa Barbara, Ca.: ABC-Clio, 1979)
Much criticised book that attempts an overview. It actually does quite a good job, and has an extensive bibliography and a 30 page translation/extract from inquisition records of Jacques Fournier in the 13th century.
Reviews -
AHR 1980, p.375;
Speculum (1980), pp. 121-122;
Journal of Homosexuality 6:1/2 (2 separate reviews)}
Sheehan, M. M., The Journal of Ecclesiastical History 33 July 1982, 438-446

Halperin, David M., One Hundred Years of Homosexuality : And Other Essays on Greek Love, The New Ancient World Series, (London: Routledge Chapman & Hall, 1989)

Reviews

Griffin, Jasper, New York Review of Books 37 p6,8-12 March 29 1990

Nussbaum, Martha, Times Literary Supplement:4548 p571-573 June 1-7 90

Herman, Gerald, "The `Sin against Nature' and its Echos in Medieval French Literature", Annuale Medievale 17 (1976), pp. 70-87

Hermann, Alfred, "Antinous infelix: Zur Typologie des Heiligen-Unheiligen in der Spaetantike", in Mullus; Festschrift T Klauser; ed by A Stuiber1964 p155-167

Kuster, Harvey J., "Gelijkgeslachtelijke liefde in de middeleeuwen", Spiegel Historiael 10 (1975), pp 232-237

Kuster, Harvey J., "L'Amour physique unisexuel au moyen age", Arcadie, (Paris: 1976), pp. 665-670

Kuster, Harvey J., "Homoerotik in de middeleewse poezia", Maatstaf 24 (1976), pp. 40-48

Kuster, Harvey J., Over Homoseksualiteit in Middeleeuws West-Europa, (Utrecht: Univ. of Utrecht Dissertation, 1977)

Reviewed criticlly by A.H. Bredero, Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenie 91 (1978), 256-62

Kuster, Harvey J., "Homoseksualiteit in de middeleeuwen", Huisarts en Praktijk, (Utrecht: 1980), pp. 13-16

Kuster, Harvey & Raymond J. Cormier, "Old Views and New Trends: Observations on the Problem of Homosexuality in the Middle Ages", Studii Medievali 25:2 (1985)
[Overview of recent work, based on Boswell and Kuster's dissertation.]

Leonhardt, W., "Die Homosexualitat der altesten deutschen Literatur", JFZ 12 (1911-12), 153-65

Lilja, S., Homosexuality in Republican and Augustan Rome, (Helsinki: Commentationes Humanorum Litteratum [Societas Scientarum Fennica] 74, 1983)

Miller, Stella G., "Eros and the arms of Achilles", American Journal of Archaeology 90 No 2 p159-170 April 1986

Moody, Howard, "Pleasure, too, is a gift from God: sex, sin, and the Judaeo-Christian tradition", Christianity and Crisis 45 June 10 1985, 227-231

Moore, R.I., The Formation of a Persecuting Society, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987)
Briefly discusses homosexuality, but sets it in the wider context of Jews, lepers, heretics and other persecuted groups.

Richlin, Amy, "Not Before Homosexuality: The Materiality of the Cinaedus and the Roman Law against Love Between Men", Journal of History of Sexuality 3:4 (1993), 523-573

A significant attack on the Foucault/Halperin/Winkler thesis that "homosexuality" is an irrelevant category for the Roman past. Good up to date bibliography on the issues. Approves of Boswell.

Ruggiero, Guido, The Boundaries of Eros: Sex, Crime and Sexuality in Renaissance Venice, (New York: Oxford UP, 1985)

See pp 109-45 on sodomy.

Saslow, James .M., Ganymede in the Renaissance: Homosexuality in Art and Society, (New Haven: Yale UP, 1986)
Reviews

Source 6:3 (1987), pp. 34-35;

Art Bulletin 69:4 (1987), pp. 653-57;

AHR 93:1 (1988), p.185}

Hope, Charles, "Jupiter's Boy", New York Review of Books May 29, 1986; 33:9 p. 7-10

Sergent, Bernard, Homosexuality in Greek Myth, (Boston: 1986)
Reviews
Stanley, Phillip V., Journal of Homosexuality 15 No 3-4 1988, 160-164
King, Helen, Times Literary Supplement No 4390 May 22 1987, p. 546
Boswell, John, The Journal of Religion 68 July 1988, p485-487

Stehling, Thomas, trans., Medieval Latin Poems of Male Love and Friendship, (New York: Garland, 1984)
Gay medieval literature from the Roman Empire to 1300. Alcuin, Ausonius, Luxorius, Abelard, Baudri or Bourgueil, Hilderbert of Lauardin.

C: Modern (Since 1500)

Adam, Barry D., The Rise of a Gay and Lesbian Movement, (Boston: Twayne, 1987)
Good textbook. Main concern is modern period. Discusses some theoretical issues.

Alonso Tejada, Luis, La represion sexual en la Espana de Franco, (Barcelona: Caraly, 1977)

On gays see pp 217-24.

Bérubé, Allan, Coming Out under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II, (New York: NAL-Dutton-Plume, 1991)

Bingham, Caroline, "Seventeenth-Century Attitudes Towards Deviant Sex", Journal of Interdisciplinary History 1 (1971), 447-68

Bleuel, Hans Peter, Sex and Society in Nazi Germany, (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1974)
Discusses inter alia, Roehm's murder, and the view that homosexuals should be drowned in bogs as amongst the ancient Germans.

Bray, Alan, Homosexuality in Renaissance England, (London: GMP, 1988, c. 1982)

Review
Boswell, J. E., in The American Historical Review 89 (April 1984), 421-422

Bronski, Michael, Culture Clash: The Making of Gay Sensibility, (Boston: South End, 1984)

Chauncey, George, Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World 1890-1940, (New York: Basic, 1994)

Outstanding book by University of Chicago historian on gay male life in New York before World War II. Based on many interviews and heavy documentary research. Challenges the notion that it all came together only after WWII. Argues persuasively that, especially among the working class, the distinction between "homosexual" and "heterosexual" persons originated only between the 1930s and 1950s: before that "queer" meant much more than just "homosexual" sex, it meant a more radical gender inversion. A good discussion of sources for lesbian and gay history.

Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution, Report of the Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution, (London : H.M.S.O., 1957)
Also known as: Wolfenden report.

Cooper, Emmanuel, "The Sexual Perspective: Homosexuality and Art in the Last 100 Years in the West", reviewed by Saslow, James M., Journal of Homosexuality, 19:1 p139-143 1990

Courouve, Claude, "Sodomy Trials in France" , Gay Books Bulletin 1:1 (1979), 22-23, 26

Coward, D.A., "Attitudes to Homosexuality in Eighteenth Century France", Journal of European Studies 10, 231-55

Crompton, Louis, "The Myth of Lesbian Immunity", in Salvatore J. Licata & Robert P. Petersen, eds., The Gay Past: A Collection of Historical Essays, (New York; Haworth, 1985), originally Journal of Homosexuality 6:1/2 (Fall/Winter 1980), 11-26

Crompton, Louis, Byron and Greek Love: Homophobia in 19th Century England, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985)

Cruikshank, Margaret, The Gay and Lesbian Liberation Movement, Revolutionary Thought/Radical Movements, (London: Routledge Chapman Hall, 1992)

Daniel, Marc, " A Study of Homosexuality in France During the Reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV", ONE Institute Quarterly 14 (Summer 1961), 77-93 and 15 (Fall 1961), 125-36

Based on French language articles in Arcadie.

D'Emilio, John, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communites, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983)
Most complete account of US homophile movement in 1950s and 1960s.

D'Emilio, John & Estelle Freedman, Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America, (New York: Harper & Row, 1988)

Documents in the Homosexual Rights Movement in Germany, 1836-1927, (New York: Arno Press, 1975)

Duberman, Martin, About Time : Exploring the Gay Past, rev. ed. (New York: Penguin USA/Meridian, 1991)

Duberman, Martin, Stonewall, (New York: 1993)

Faderman, Lilian and Brigitte Erikson, Lesbian/Feminism in Turn of the Century Germany, (Weatherby Lake: MO: Naiad Press, 1980)

Faderman, Lilian, Surpassing the Love of Men, (New York: William Morrow, 1981)
History of Lesbians based on literary sources.

Faderman, Lilian, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbina Life in Twentieth-Century America, (New York: Columbia UP, 199?)

Gerard, Kent and Gert Hekma, eds., The Pursuit of Sodomy: Male Homosexuality in Renaissance and Englightenment Europe, (New York: Harrington Park Press, 1989) [also issued as Journal of Homosexuality 16:1/2 (1988))

Haeberle, Erwin J., "Swastika, Pink Triangle and Yellow - the Destruction of Sexology and the Persecution of Homsexuals in Nazi Germany", Journal of Sex Research 17 (1981), 270-87

Hahn, Pierre, ed. Nos ancêtres les pervers: la vie des homosesuels sous le second empire, 9Paris: Oliver Orban, 1971)

Selection of texts on 1852-70 period, with an introduction.

Heger, Hans, ed., The Men With the Pink Triangles, (London: GMP, 1980)

Account of a gay man's experience of Nazi concentration camps. Note that Heger was the reporting journalist, not the anonymous prisoner.

Hervez, Jean (pseud. of Raoul Vèze), Les sociétés d'amour au xviiie siècle, (Paris: Daragon, 1906)

Huussen, Arend H, Jr., "Sodomy in the Dutch Republic during the 18th century", Eighteenth Century Life ns 9 No 3 May 1985, 169-178

Hyde, H. Montgomery, The Love that Dared Not Speak Its Name: A Candid History of Homosexuality in Britain, (Boston: Little, Brown, 1970)

Hyde, H. Montgomery, The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, (New York: University Books 1956)

These trials marked the onset of an anti-homsexual rage in Britain that was take as "tradition" when the long night was broken in the 1970s.

Jauregui, Carlos Luis, La homosexualidad en la Argentina, (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Tarso, 1987)

Karlinsky, Simon, "Russia's Gay Literature and History (11th-20th centuriess)", Gay Sunshine 29-30 (Summer-fall 1976), 1-7

Mainly on late 19th and early 20th century literature.

Katz, Jonathan, Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the USA - A Documentary, (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1976; paperback, New York: Avon Discus)
Anthology of 168 documents with some analysis. Gives half of its space to lesbians. Established two importan aspects of modern lesbian and gay history: first that the sources were available; second the "constructionist" idea that the category of "homosexual" is a late 19th century invention.

Katz, Jonathan, The Gay/Lesbian Almanac, (New York: Morrow, 1983)

Katz, Steven T, "Quantity and interpretation: issues in the comparative historical analysis of the holocaust", Holocaust and Genocide Studies 4:2 p127-148 1989

Katz, Steven T., "Quantity and interpretation: issues in the comparative historical analysis of the Holocaust", Remembering for the future, ol 3; Y Bauer, et al, 1989 p2510-2526

Kennedy, Elizabeth Lapovsky and Madeline D. Davis, Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold : The History of a Lesbian Community, (London: Routledge Chapman Hall, 1993)

Licata, Salvatore J. & Robert P. Petersen, eds., The Gay Past: A Collection of Historical Essays, (New York; Haworth, 1985), originally Journal of Homosexuality 6:1/2 (Fall/Winter 1980)

Lauritsen, John and David Thorstad, The Early Homosexual Rights Movement (1864-1935), (New York: Times Change Press, 1974)

Lautmann, Rudiger. "Categorization in concentration camps as a collective fate: a comparison of homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses and political prisoners" Journal of Homosexuality 19:1 p67-88 1990

Martin, Del & Phyllis Lyon, Lesbian/Women, (San Francisco: Glide Publications, 1972)
by co-founders of the Daughters of Bilitis. 1950s homophile movement.

Miller, Neil, Out in the World : Gay and Lesbian Life from Buenos Aires to Bangkok, (New York: Vintage, 1993)

Miller, Neil, Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present, (New York: Vintage, 1995)

Readable, and extensive (over 600 pages), account of modern lesbian and gay history in Europe and the Americas. Based on much of the academic research of recent years.

Newton, Esther, Cherry Grove, Fire Island : Sixty Years in America's First Gay and L esbian Town, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1993)

Norton, Rictor, Mother Clap's Molly House : Gay Subculture in England, 1700-1830, (London : Gay Men's P., 1992)

Nouveau, Pierre, "La péché philosophique au de l'homosexualité du xviiie siècle", Arcadie, nos. 254-259/60 (Feb-Oct 1975)

Rousseau, G.S. "The Pursuit of Homsexuality in the Eighteenth Century: 'Utterly Confused Category' and.or Rich Repository", Eighteenth Century Life 9 (1985), 132-68

Plant, Richard, The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals, (New York: Owl/New Republic/Henry Holt, 1986)
Probably the best English language book on the Nazi treatment of gays, but far from perfect. Points out that homosexuality charges were often brought against Catholic clergy.Useful bibliography. For readers of German, see Burkhard Jellonek, Homosexuelle unter dem Hakenkreuz.

Teal, Don, The Gay Militants, (New York: Stein and Day, 1971)

Detailed account of first two years of the Gay Liberation movement in NYC. Prints many early leaflets verbatim.

Tripp, C. The Homosexual Matrix, (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975)

Widely cited book on the gay scene.

Sahuquillo, Angel, Federico Garcia Lorca y la cultura de la homosexualidad : Lorca, Dali, Cernuda, Gil-Albert, Prados y la voz silenciada del amor homosexual, ( Stockholm : Romanska Institutionen, Stockholms universitet, c1986)

Schmitt, Arno and Jehoeda Sofer, eds., Sexuality and eroticism among males in Moslem societies, (New York : Haworth Press, 1991)

Steakley, James D., The Homosexual Emancipation Movement in Germany, (New York: Arno Press, 1975)

The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the History Department of Fordham University, New York. The Internet Medieval Sourcebook, and other medieval components of the project, are located at the Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies.The IHSP recognizes the contribution of Fordham University, the Fordham University History Department, and the Fordham Center for Medieval Studies in providing web space and server support for the project. The IHSP is a project independent of Fordham University. Although the IHSP seeks to follow all applicable copyright law, Fordham University is not the institutional owner, and is not liable as the result of any legal action.

© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 20 Oct 2025 [CV]