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This article is about the history of gay men in the United States. For lesbians, please see History of lesbianism in the United States. ==Prior to 1950== Two-spirit is a modern umbrella term used by some indigenous North Americans for Gender variant individuals in their communities. The presence of male two-spirits existed before European contact, and "was a fundamental institution among most tribal peoples."〔Gilley, Brian Joseph (2006: 8). ''Becoming Two-Spirit: Gay Identity and Social Acceptance in Indian Country''. ISBN 0-8032-7126-3.〕 According to Will Roscoe, male and female two-spirits have been "documented in over 130 North America tribes, in every region of the continent."〔Roscoe, Will (1991). ''The Zuni Man-Woman,'' p.5. ISBN 0-8263-1253-5.〕 Two-spirits might have relationships with people of either sex. According to Lang, female assigned at birth two-spirits usually have sexual relations or marriages with only females.〔Lang, S. (1998), pp. 289–298.〕 However, in most tribes a relationship between a two-spirit and non-two-spirit was seen for the most part as neither heterosexual nor homosexual (in modern day terms) but more hetero-normative; European colonists, however, saw such relationships as homosexual. Partners of two-spirits have not historically viewed themselves as homosexual, and moreover drew a sharp conceptual line between themselves and two-spirits.〔Lang, S. (1998), pp. 208-212.〕 There were few openly gay European men in America at this time, due to legal consequences as well as social ostracism. Anal sex was specifically prohibited by a statute passed in 1563 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and the English colonies in America were subject to this law. Since 1814 crime against nature has been used as a legal term in published cases in the United States, normally defined as a form of sexual behavior that is not considered natural and is seen as a punishable offense in dozens of countries and several U.S. states; this often included homosexual sex. Other sexual practices that have historically been considered to be crimes against nature include anal sex, as well as fellatio, bestiality, incest, miscegenation and necrophilia. The term is sometimes also seen as a synonym for sodomy or buggery.〔See Rose v. Locke, 1975, 96 S.Ct. 243, 423 U.S. 48, 46 L.Ed.2d 185.〕〔Andrews v. Vanduzer, N.Y.Sup. 1814 (January Term, 1814) (Vanduzer accused Andrews of having had connection with a cow and then a mare and the court understood this to mean that Vanduzer was going around telling others that Andrews had been guilty of the crime against nature with a beast.〕 Legal punishments for sodomy often included lengthy prison sentences, fines, and hard labor. The first recorded police raid in American history on a gay bathhouse took place in New York on February 21, 1903, when New York police raided the Ariston Hotel Baths. 26 men were arrested and 12 brought to trial on sodomy charges; 7 men received sentences ranging from 4 to 20 years in prison.〔(Chauncey, 1995)〕 After all, police raids on gay hangouts and other examples of formal and/or informal harassment were common practice prior during the first half of the 20th century. Nevertheless, there were some gay men who had an important impact on American history at this time, particularly literature. Walt Whitman, a prominent and influential American poet, is widely believed to have been gay or bisexual. In 1860 he published ''Calamus,'' a series of homoerotic poems, for which he was fired from his job at the Department of the Interior, though he quickly obtained a similar job in the Attorney General’s office.〔 Another important homoerotic book was published in 1870 by the America author Bayard Taylor, titled ''Joseph and His Friend: A Story of Pennsylvania.''〔Whitcomb, Selden L. and Matthews, Brander, ''Chronological Outlines of American Literature'', Norwood Press, 1893, p. 186〕 This book has been deemed the 'first gay novel' in America.〔Austen, Roger, ''Playing the Game: The Homosexual Novel in America'', Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1977, p. 9〕 It has also been noted for its enigmatic treatment of homosexuality. Roger Austen notes "In the nineteenth century Bayard Taylor had written that the reader who did not feel 'cryptic forces' at play in ''Joseph and His Friend: A Story of Pennsylvania'' would hardly be interested in the external movement of his novel."〔Austen, Roger, ''Playing the Game: The Homosexual Novel in America'', Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1977, p. 77〕 Another such work is ''Imre: A Memorandum'', written in Europe by the expatriate American-born author, Edward Irenaeus Prime-Stevenson, who originally published it under the pseudonym of Xavier Mayne in a limited-edition imprint of 500 copies in Naples, Italy, in 1906. ''Imre: A Memorandum'' is the first American gay novel with a happy ending. The first recognized gay rights organization in America, the Society for Human Rights, was founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago in 1924. It only existed for a few months before disbanding due to the arrests of several of the Society's members. Still, it was officially recognized due to having received a charter from the state of Illinois, and produced the first American publication for gays, ''Friendship and Freedom''. The gay male community gained more visibility in 1948 with the publication of ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Male'', by Alfred Kinsey, a sexologist who was himself bisexual. The book states, among other things, that 37% of the male subjects surveyed had at least one homosexual experience,〔Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, p. 656〕 and that 10% of American males surveyed were "more or less exclusively homosexual for at least three years between the ages of 16 and 55".〔Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, p. 651〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of gay men in the United States」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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