MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2024
Homosexuality: Cultural advance, decay or both?
In Portugal, homosexuality can be traced back to the Roman occupation, says TEOTÓNIO R DE SOUZA
The Biblical references in the books of Deuteronomy, Kings and St Paul’s letter to Romans chastise in strong terms and with dire consequences the ‘sodomites’. ‘The Abject Sin’ (“Pecado Nefando” in the Inquisition files) was also defined in the Buggery Act of 1533, approved in England under Henry VIII in 1534. The State was thereby taking away the jurisdiction of the Church in this respect. Infractions were punishable with hanging, a penalty that was only abolished in 1861. It was only in 1967 that English law excluded from punishment homosexual acts among adults, conducted privately and with mutual consent.
Apart from converted Jews – the so-called ‘new Christians’ or Cypto-Jews – in the Portuguese Inquisition (including its Goan extension) sodomites were the most watched section of the population and also the most penalised, with torture and burning at the stake. Condemnations were based upon inherited Judeo-Christian morality, which considered sexual acts among persons of the same sex as contra natura and as the most abject, dirty and dishonest sin, which was bound to provoke divine anger and put humanity at risk.
Floods, famines, epidemics and other disasters were attributed to such divine wrath. The crime of sodomy belonged to the common jurisdiction of kings and the Church, and as a result of the fear, tears and different forms of subterfuge were commonly resorted to by the accused.
In 16th century Portugal, the sodomites (fanchonos) were imprisoned in the secret cells of Rocio and other prisons of the Inquisition in the continent and elsewhere in the empire. Most victims had their goods confiscated, were whipped in public, exiled to stations overseas or condemned to hard labour in the galleys or the gunpowder manufactory of Goa. A few dozens were burnt during autos-da-fé.
The need of hiding themselves from public discredit gave rise to a culture of cypto-sodomites, equivalent to the crypto-Jews. The ‘fanchonos’ were bolder characters who did not care for anonymity or their reputation being tarnished. Today we would classify them as ‘assumed’ gays.
The most recent case of paedophilia in Portugal ended in the conviction of six accused after a long-drawn judicial process that lasted nearly six years, with much media-attention worldwide. A house in Elvas was frequently mentioned as a meeting point where the accused sexually abused children from a state-run educational institution.
Curiously, the records of the Evora Inquisition in 1621 describe the case of Domingos Fernandes, from Elvas, also accused of paedophilia. He confessed his sin when threatened with torture, but denied everything later. None of the accused in the present-day scandal are associated with the clergy, but the records of the Inquisition include all categories of clergymen among the accused and those punished.
O Barão de Lavos (1891) is a novel by the Portuguese author Abel Botelho, who was influenced by the writings of Émile Zola. The author presented his novels as analysing the Patologia Social. He wished to denounce a social malady that affected his country at the close of the 19th century. The Baron of Lavos, Sebastião Pires de Castro, was obssessed with persons of the same sex, and ended up destroying his married life as well as the fortune he had inherited. Homosexuality is presented as an inherited disease. Nineteenth century scientific ‘naturalism’ defended Judeo-Christian morality on a different basis, maintaining that procreation is the natural and only legitimate goal of sexual activity.
His O Livro de Alda (1898) is moulded on similar lines, but represents lesbian tendencies. We should not forget that Abel Botelho was a member of the state-appointed committee that designed the national flag of Republican Portugal. He wished to convey the ideals of the Republic for the regeneration of the nation. This consideration will be particularly interesting in the background of the first centenary of the Portuguese Republic, to be commemorated later this year. The judgment on the paedophilia scandal in Portugal gains greater significance in this context.
On 8 January 2010, the Portuguese Parliament approved gay marriages with the support of the Socialist and Left parties. On 17 May the President of Portugal ratified the legislation, making Portugal the sixth European nation to do so.
In Portugal, homosexuality can be traced back to the times of the Roman occupation. Portuguese historian A H Oliveira Marques has studied homosexuality in medieval Portugal, and Brazilian historian Luiz Mott continues to provide us extensive research on homosexuality and pederasty in modern Portugal.
I would suggest to those interested in this subject to start reading the classic plays of Gil Vicente, a court dramatist and a social critic of early 16th century Portugal. His Auto da India (1509) is particularly interesting, with his sarcasm about wives and lovers who pretended sadness about the departure of their menfolk to India.
The Portuguese Discoveries continue to be celebrated as the beacon of national glory, but the massive (within the limits of Portuguese population figures at the time) exit of menfolk contributed to the promotion of sodomy overseas and lesbianism at home. That is precisely what provided grist to the mills of the Inquisition.
What Abel Botelho was exposing as a social pathology in his novels was the national pathology, a result of a long-term disequilibrium of the male-female ratio in the population at home and abroad during five centuries of the Portuguese empire. The effects have come to stay, and the recent paedophilia sandal, which involved all levels of the Portuguese bourgeoisie, is certainly not a stray incident.
On 2 July 2009, the Delhi High Court decriminalised homosexual intercourse between consenting adults throughout India, holding that Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) violated the fundamental right to life and liberty and the right to equality as guaranteed by the Constitution of India. As for paedophilia, Goa has yet to clear the bad reputation it gained as a paedophile paradise, despite the first life sentence for paedophilia in India for Anglo-Indian paedophile Freddy Peats in Aguada jail in 1996.
I do not think we had no paedophiles in traditional Goan villages and within our families. Unfortunately, I have sad memories of paedophilia in a Goan seminary, where the senior inmates abused younger ones. It was called ‘pokodpiação’ (a mix of the lusitanised vernacular expression). I could name some of the violators, but I wish some of my contemporaries would come forward and confirm this sad reality in an institution that trained future priests. It is curious how such shameful practices – and they were not isolated instances – continue to belong to the realm of silence.
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All-new ball game
By Adelmo Fernandes
In the past week or so, we were bombarded with news of balls. First there was the episode of Pakistani bowlers bowling no-balls at a premium. Then, there was the case of tar balls making their presence felt on our beaches. But the news that really grabbed the headlines was the disappearance of the alleged drug peddler Atala. It seems that the cops made a gotala of the Atala case.
It seems that crime in Goa is now being carried out in partnership, where even more than parties are involved. We have the politician-police-drug nexus. This probably proved to be a profitable partnership business venture, where everyone had their (hash) cake and ate it too.
Did someone say something about ‘Bolting the stable door after the horse has bolted?’ Well the Atala case seems to be just that. Atala was here with the police and now he has disappeared into thin air. Was it a case of ‘fixing’ just like the match-fixing that is in the air? Well don’t blame the cops. Atala knew too much for their (the cops’) comfort. So, no Atala means that the police and politicians can breathe easy.
Has Atala left India, or has he been eliminated and left the world? That’s the big question. Now it’s an all new ball game. And, indeed, the ball is in the police’s court. They should have considered themselves lucky, as Lucky Farmhouse, Atala’s ex-girlfriend, was in India and could have been interrogated by the cops.
But the police chose to ignore her. Now they are planning to interrogate Lucky Farmhouse in Sweden, where she probably owns a farmhouse. These cops should consider themselves ‘Lucky’. Imagine interrogating a model as good-looking as Lucky in her own Farmhouse! Be that as it may, it remains to be seen which way the case goes.
That brings us to a new theory in cricket. It pays to bowl a no-ball. After the no-ball controversy, where the Sri Lankan bowler Randiv denied Indian batsman Virendra Sehwag the luxury of a century by bowling a no-ball, there have been more controversies surrounding no-balls, as far as Pakistani cricket is concerned.
Imagine being paid hundreds of thousands of pounds (by bookies) to bowl no-balls… From now on, bowlers will practice only one thing – bowling no-balls – since there is such a lot of money to be made doing it. Provided, of course, that you do not end up in a fix (for match-fixing or spot-fixing).
The latest news making the rounds is that cricket bosses are thinking of legalising betting in cricket. So while batsmen bat in the middle, people in the stands can bet. Cricket will never be the same again. It will be an all-new ball game.
But then, there is nothing new about the tar balls that keep rolling on to our once-beautiful beaches. These tar balls seem to be growing by the day. People have been suggesting that these tar balls should be used to tar our pot-holed roads. Look out for contractors heading to the beaches, not for sand extraction but to extract tar balls. This will be an all-new ball game for these contractors.
And what ball game are our politicians playing? Well they certainly are finding it very difficult to set the ball rolling…
