Title: History of Same Sex Marriage
Headings: History of Same Sex Marriage
History of Same Sex Marriage
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Historical Same-Sex Precedence
Greco-Roman
Indigenous Peoples
The Fight at Home for Marriage Equality
Victory! Free at Last

Content: In parts of pre-colonial Africa, some groups allowed women to wed other women. This was an option available to widows that didn’t want to remarry a man or be absorbed into her late husband’s family. Interestingly enough, inheritance  and family lineage were attached to these same-sex marriages and it was even considered normal for these women to raise children together. The Fight at Home for Marriage Equality
By the 19th Century, heterosexuality was seen as the default orientation and was heavily reinforced in societal norms and laws. Anti-sodomy laws took effect (though these were rarely enforced for heterosexual couples) and violence  was regularly perpetuated against known gays and lesbians. In the United States, homosexuality was viewed as a mental illness. Men and women were subjected to cruel electro-shock therapy in attempts to “cure” them and in some extreme cases, chemical castration was employed. Gays and lesbians suffered from such a compromised social status that many had learned to hide or outright deny that fundamental aspect of their identity. They would sometimes enter into heterosexual marriages as a cover for their  true orientation. This was an easy alternative because as long as a union was comprised of a man and a woman, nobody cared about it being sanctified or genuine, despite these being touted as paramount to a legal union .