Constantine's Discriminatory Sex Laws

[joggerjayne]

So, apparently ...

(which is leaving myself open to someone looking it up and disputing it)

... in 342 AD, the Emperor Constantine passed a law forbidding ..:

Same sex marriage
Oral sex
Anal sex

I'm not saying that I'd actually want it in the butt. That's just a personal preference thing. But, you know ...

Was this the earliest example of legislation that discriminated on the grounds of sexual orientation?

[joggerjayne]

Jolly for licking off each other, though.

:0)

[Peter Pedant]

.

I think one has to think about the place of legislation in that society - I cant really think of any other co existing legal system, and there appears to be confusion on this thread of whether the Bible was a legal system at that time ( I would have thought not )

and secondly - it was OK if you did it to slaves
so there is the question of who the law applied to

[sandyRoe]

Isn't there a law still in existence which is designed to cool the ardour of boyfriends of the daughters of monarchs?

[joggerjayne]

Slaves didn't count?

[Peter Pedant]

No slaves didnt count
they were a "res" - thing
could be bought and sold and had no rights

the position of slaves in Christian society ( no smut please ) caused problems for the Romans

Cicero ( first century ) wrote up his legal cases and in one ? pro milone that when a defendant 'came onto' a Roman centurion and he killed him, the court brought in a verdict justifiable homicide

Constantine might just have been regularising that.

[jno]

where did you get this law from, JJ? As far as I can see it prohibits gay marriage but not the other ignoble acts you refer to

Emperors Constantius and Constans to the people: When a male gives himself in marriage to a "woman" [sc. effeminate man], and what he wants is that the "woman" play the male role, where sex has lost its place, where the crime is such that it is better not to know it, where Venus is changed into a different shape, where love is sought but not found, we order laws to arise, justice to be armed with an avenging sword, so that the disgraced persons who are or in future shall be guilty may be subjected to exquisite penalties.

I wonder if exquisite penalties would involve baby blue handcuffs?

[joggerjayne]

They are cute handcuffs.

[jno]

could you get an avenging sword to match, with a baby blue scabbard?

[Ken4155]

Swords and scabbards. Sounds like a game.:-)

[Ken4155]

of course, that would be 'swordsmen and scabbards'

[Ken4155]

LOL, having just posted my last reply, i see there is a thread running titled, "Cracked Rear Axle". Wonder if that's what Constans was trying to eradicate when laying down these laws.

[joggerjayne]

Eeuuwww !!!