A. Introduction

Socrates, Oscar Wilde, Klaus Mann and many other men in history had one thing in common: they loved men. Some of them were lucky and could live a peaceful life regardless, since they either had the respective social standing or lived in societies where homosexuality was at least tolerated. Most others in history, however, were in a rather unfortunate position. To be gay was to be criminal. A conviction for homosexual conduct resulted in years in prison or worse: even today the death penalty can be imposed upon homosexuals in countries where the Shari’a, the Islamic Criminal Code, is interpreted and applied in a strict and conservative way.

Penalization, however, is only the tip of the iceberg. Underlying are millennia of social discrimination and harassment. As far as historians are able to trace, homosexuals, in particular gay men, seem to have been continuously discriminated against. Homosexuality was considered contrary to human nature, abnormal, and at best pathological. The penalization of homosexuality on the one hand reflects the respective society’s attitude. On the other hand it constitutes the barrier for an overdue change in the minds of individuals and thus a change in society. Such a change would give way for civil rights that every heterosexual enjoys without doubt or further thought. Who would question the right of a (heterosexual) individual to marry the person he or she loves and to raise children? And who would question that (heterosexual) couples, who cannot have children of their own, should have the right to adopt? All over the world - with few exceptions – such basic civil rights do not apply to same-sex couples.

This constitutes a Catch 22: how can gays and lesbians ever get out of the margins of society if they are deprived of a “normal” life, if they have no chance to show how “normal” their sexuality actually is (if what the majority does can be considered...