Timeline This article is about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) history in Italy.
Romans, like Greeks, tolerated love and sex among men.
Two Roman Emperors publicly married men, some had gay lovers themselves, and homosexual prostitution was taxed.
However, like the Greeks, passivity and effeminacy were not tolerated, and an adult male freeborn Roman could lose his citizen status if caught performing fellatio or being penetrated.
[6]
Etruscan fresco - Males having sex.
Bus of Elagabalus - Palazzo Nuovo - Musei Capitolini - Rome 2016. The 3rd century Roman emperor
Elegabalus
is viewed by some historians as an early transgender figure.
Justinian I
's
Justinian Code
, which influenced the persecuted status of homosexuals in Europe from 529AD until the
Napoleonic era
, was satirized in 1911 by the artist A Radokov.
Dante
and
Virgil
interview male homosexuals, from Guido da Pisa's commentary on the
Commedia
, c. 1345
5274 Lesbian Mom at a 'talking book' LGBT event in
Pavia
in 2010, where people told their stories to combat
homophobia
. L'amore spiazza, Pavia 16 May 2010 - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto
