Newser had a story on Sally Ride and it brought many comments. Mine is below, and then Buckoux attacked my view in a powerful, and thought-provoking manner. I replied. I must admit I am no attorney, and I may be wrong on some of this. Maybe all of this. But I hope it stimulates thought on the part of readers.---Hugh Murray
Why Sally Ride Hid Her Sexuality
When I was young, homosexuality was a crime, and a sickness. In the daily newspaper's crime notices, so-in-so was arrested for a crime against nature. with their name and address revealed. Job loss, humiliation, and relatives might try to have the guilty party committed to an insane asylum. Many people destroyed.
The evil repercussions of a an ancient tale of 2 cities was literally a death sentence for nearly 2,000 years for gays, with widespread influence of the Justinian Code. Three cheers for the French Revolution and its revision of the laws into the Napoleonic Code, which freed Protestants, Jews, and gays.
"Three cheers for the French Revolution and its revision of the laws into the Napoleonic Code, which freed Protestants, Jews, and gays."
No. The Magna Carta and the evolution of bottom-up English Common Law is far superior to the top-down of Civil Law from the Napoleonic Code. Civil Law countries have no juries of one's peers, only judges and no grand juries, once again of ones peers. The poor countries of this world, especially Latin America, suffer the injustices of their corrupt governments due to their Napoleonic Code of law brought by the Spanish, Portuguese and French to the New World.
One can argue English Common Law is more democratic than civil coded law. My point is that the Justinian Code embodied the prejudices and hatred of the late Roman Empire, and so the laws included restrictions on pagans, Jews, homosexuals. Continuing the trend begun by Constantine, pagan temples could become Christian churches, Jewish services had to be in the vernacular language, and could be cancelled if interfering with the Christian calendar services; and the penalty for sodomy was death, preceded by torture for both men involved. That code, spread to influence most of Europe, meant centuries of persecution for Jews and gays and religious non-conformists. The French Revolution, which at times was a war against the Roman Catholic Church, even abolishing the Christian calendar, and replacing it with a new scientific decimal system. The 10-day week was unpopular and did not endure. The Cathedral of Notre Dame was converted into a temple for the goddess of reason, as Robespierre, wearing a toga, sought to restore some of the old religion,- but when he fell from power, and his head fell into a basket, some experiments came to an end. His Jacobin party did vote for the abolishment of black slavery in what we call Haiti, probably the first effort to free black slaves en masse, but that parliamentary effort ended with Robespierre's death also. The idea was however taken up by the black slaves themselves, who began a black rebellion in Haiti, one of the few successful slave rebellions in history. Napoleon sought to suppress it, gave up, and gave up the idea of a French empire in North America. So he took Louisiana from his brother whom he had put on the Spanish throne, and sold Louisiana to the new USA.
Another thing, if English law is so superior, how come it did not spread to neighboring Scotland, where NOT Napoleonic but civil code is still used? The French Revolution and the new Code freed Protestants in France, Jews, and gays, not only in France, but where Napoleons armies conquered. I think it was the 1850s when Victoria's Britain criminalized homosexuality in India. That did not occur in French Indo-China and the French colonial world. And around 1900 with the conviction of Oscar Wilde, many English bachelors were seen booking ships to France and away from one aspect of English oppression.
(As much as I detest Justinian's views on gays, I must admit, I admire his governments construction of the Hagia Sophia, the church in Constantinople with the large dome, vast space inside, and few pillars to hold things up. It took only 5 years to complete. In the 1400s, Muslims conquered the city, and, like in the past when Christians took over pagan temples, now the Hagia Sophia became a mosque. After WWI, a new, secular leader, Ataturk demanded women not wear the hijab, and the Hagia Sophia became a museum. Under Turkey's recent leader Erdogen, the Hagia became a mosque once again.)
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