[Status - Brehon] Homosexuality/Bisexuality in Early Ireland

      To quote my previous post 'Looking at Marriage Through the Cain Lanamna:' "same-sex marriage is never written about in legal texts or mythology. The most probable explanation is that it was a cultural 'given' that same sex marriage was unacceptable." Throughout Europe at the time, little was written about same sex relationships or marriages apart from select cases in early Rome, and even earlier in Greece. 

    Some Greek and Roman writers/geographers write about same-sex relationships when describing the Celtic tribes they came across, although these are mostly Germanic tribes. Since these Greek writers are outsiders to the culture, the credibility of their claims is also to be considered. 

Depiction of Aengus. From pinterest.com

    A lot of people outside academic circles like to claim Celts did in fact have same-sex relationships with little evidence. Whether this is projection or fantasy, or it started from valid evidence, I do not know. I cannot find where the idea could have originated from other than Roman/Greek writing about the Celts, or Greek/Roman practices themselves being generalized to other parts of Europe. One such example is this article from Xtra Magazine (Same Sex Celts. https://www.dailyxtra.com/same-sex-celts-2-39898). The first sign that it is an article to be weary of is that it starts with talking about St. Patrick's day. Because 'Ireland,' right? There is some correct and useful information about the Christianisation of Ireland, but beyond that, a lot of information is wrong. 

    However, what is interesting is that there is no mention of homosexuality or bisexuality in any legal text available to date. Nowhere there is no protection for it, nor is there any punishment. This could mean that it was so taboo that no legal text needed to even mention it, or it could imply something about the role of Law/legislation. Perhaps homosexuality/bisexuality is never mentioned because religion and the Clerical class were protecting or condemning/preventing it. Post-Christianisation, the Church would have been promoting that it was taboo, and there would have been punishment within the Church for anyone who was Homosexual/Bisexual. If the Church was already providing the punishment for Homosexuality, then the Law wouldn't necessarily have to, hence why homosexuality never made it into legislation. However, pre-Christianisation, it is nearly impossible to infer whether homosexuality would have condemned on religious grounds, and I have found no documents or stories that could provide any insight.

    The fact that homosexuality/bisexuality is never mentioned in legal documents could also be because  was simply universally accepted, but if this were the case, one would expect to read about it or at least find hints of it in Mythology. One such hint may exist in the Ulster Cycle, as Ferdiadh and CuChulainn maintain a very close relationship that can potentially be characterized as romantic, although it differs highly from the other romantic relationships of Mythology. 

    The Christian monks who transcribed the Mythology and legal documents we have now were either highly effective in censoring any trace of homosexuality/bisexuality, or there was none to censor in the first place. As I continue to read more Mythology and legal texts, I will keep an eye out for any such hints.

References:

[Be very weary] Joe. (July 2012). The Celtic Brotherhood: Homosexuality Prevalent Among these Ancient Warriors. Very Joe & Bullish. https://veryjoeandbullish.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-celtic-brotherhood-homosexuality.html

[This is full of inaccurate information and almost seems ironic. Take a look if you want a laugh] Gibson, Gayle. (2005, March 16). Same-sex Celts: Saint Brigid & her special friend. DailyXtra. https://www.dailyxtra.com/same-sex-celts-2-39898

Wikipedia:

'Aengus'

'LGBT themes in Mythology'

'Ferdiad'