Wikipedia:Peer review/Criminalization of homosexuality/archive1

Criminalization of homosexuality

I've listed this article for peer review because I'm hoping to bring it to FA status.

Thanks, (t · c) buidhe 10:11, 14 February 2023 (UTC)

Comments by SusunW

I'll try to look at this. (I have visitors coming on Thursday for a week, so time thereafter may be limited.) SusunW (talk) 14:06, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

I'm not going to comment much about style, more about making it a bit more comprehensive. Of course, you can ignore any/all of my comments and I am open to discussing them.

• The death penalty was common in early modern Europe…perhaps needs to be stated in regard to sodomy. The way it reads, it could mean it was a favored punishment for crime in general.
  • Done
• How much sodomy laws were enforced seems odd, perhaps how often?/how rigorously?
  • Done
• My next set of comments are more about structure in the sections Ancient and Colonization. It seems to me that there are multiple waves of colonization which spread criminalization and it also seems somewhat Western-slanted. Organizationally it hops a bit between periods and is confusing to me. Maybe rather than dividing it in time periods, i.e. ancient to modern, it works better to section it by criminalization periods and decriminalization periods? If you go that way, rather than "Ancient through early modern world" you have criminalization chronologically, which includes:

• Islamic law, banned sodomy from the classic period.[1][2] Same era, you have Rome, but not Greece, which didn't regulate same-sex relationships except to control abuse of power.viii We also have Assyria which basically devolved into the Ottoman Empire and Persia. While the Ottomans are included in later discussion, there is no reference to Persia, which because of its Zoroastrian traditions began to criminalize male same-sex relations from 521,[3] p 15. This says Persian law may have influenced Jewish law, p viii. Source also has a fairly broad discussion following of India, China, and Japan and Europe in the Middle Ages on ix, which would benefit the scope if you add.

• Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see anything in these sources saying that the Persians criminalized homosexuality, as opposed to their religious traditions condemning it? And I cannot find any other sources for criminalization, either.

• In medieval England, sodomy was punishable by ecclesiastical law since the 10th or 11th century but not secular law. Seems to be in the wrong section as the rest of this ¶ jumps to early modern with discussion of France and Mexico. Perhaps move it right before the discussion of the Ottoman Empire?
• Likewise Previously it could be punished by burning to death, although this was infrequently enforced.[14][15] is talking about France in the medieval period and should be in that section.

• I didn't think that this sentence made sense to put earlier because nothing I've read indicates that France's criminalization of homosexuals was unusual for Europe prior to the French revolution. It could also be just removed.

• Since long-lasting criminalization resulted from British and Russian colonization, I think you should add Russia to this section, i.e. Tsarist Russia did not appear to have any criminal statutes[4] p 364, with the first criminalization codified in 1835.[5], p 77.
• Perhaps it is worth mentioning that in Western Europe, only Finland criminalized lesbianism?[6] p 562.

• I don't think I trust the source given that it has blatant inaccuracies about the criminalization of homosexuality in Germany on the very next page, and there's no footnote I can check for Finland.

• Section "Impact of colonialism and imperialism" should probably go next because it's talking about spread of criminalization. Also it seems to only be discussing Britain?

• France: "Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Mali, Niger are former French colonies in which same-sex acts have never been criminalized. (Hildebrandt, p 249) But interestingly, Mignot's appendix disagrees.[7] (note, this is published in Cairn, but I cannot access Cairn through the WP library, maybe it's a Mexico thing and you can.) Mignot says French colonies of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam "never was criminalized" (p 23-26) This says French Guiana decriminalized in 1817. So, this bit got me thinking back to my research on nationality laws. France applied the Code Noir to the "old" American colonies as the penal law, but not it's "new colonies" in Africa and Asia. If French Guiana decriminalized in 1817, is that the date it happened in St. Bart's, Martinique, and the rest of the French Caribbean?
• Dutch: Similarly that same article says Suriname, decriminalized in 1869. Did that date also apply to Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten, and Saba?
• Spain: Decriminalized in El Salvador 1826, Peru 1837, Venezuela 1873, Guatemala 1877, Paraguay 1880, Argentina 1877, Honduras 1899. (Hildebrandt p 236)

• Both China and Japan criminalized homosexuality based on Western models and later decriminalized it seems wholly out of place in this ¶, as it isn't talking about the spread of criminalization to colonies and if input China and Japan above isn't needed here, unless you have a source that shows how those countries implemented criminalization in the places they colonized.

• I put it here because it talks about the impact of colonialism, including indirect impact. Where do you think it should go?

• Organizationally, it seems to me that During the French Revolution in 1791 marks the beginning of change and should begin the early decriminalization section, which includes:

• Napoleon's conquests and the adoption of civil law ¶ should come before the Many present-day jurisdictions criminalize homosexuality ¶.
• Scandinavian countries, Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Japan, and their colonies and territories—including much of Latin America—decriminalized homosexuality possibly isn't accurate about Scandinavia? This says in the 19th century the penalty changed in Norway and Finland from death to prison time, but the laws weren't abolished in Scandinavia until a century later. It would benefit from dates, i.e. "Belgium (1795), the Netherlands (1811), Spain (1822*), Portugal (1852*), Japan (1882)[8] Probably need a "note" for Portugal and Spain as This p 664 says Portugal decriminalized in 1852 and re-criminalized in 1912. But this says re-criminalization was in 1886: "A homossexualidade começou a ser punida pelo Código Penal a partir da revisão de 1886, através dos artigos 70.º e 71.º, que perdurarão quase 100 anos - até 1982" and while Spain decriminalized in 1822 it re-criminalized in 1928.p 104.
• However, some Ottoman men were executed for sodomy including two boys in Damascus in 1807 seems to be in the wrong place as it follows rather than precedes the statement of decriminalization in 1858? But, I question when it was indeed decriminalized if that was before enactment of the French code that year? (I can't access the source from the WP library :( .)

• Ottoman law is a bit complex because while I gather there was a centralized penal code, it seems Islamic law was also used, making the criminalization of homosexuality ambiguous. From Oszoy:

  This line of argument would lead to an assumption that, although sodomy/same-sex intimacy was not listed as a crime in these secular penal codes, it could still have been punishable by Islamic law. However, as mentioned before, the Ottomans were following the Hanafi school of law, which classes sodomy as a ta’zir crime (misdemeanor), the penalty for which fell under the discretion of the state. The state did not prescribe any penalties in the 1840 and 1851 penal codes. Therefore, the absence of sodomy/same-sex intercourse as an offense within these criminal codes cannot be explained by the fact that the shari’a law was still operational within the Ottoman Empire, since the Hanafi school of law leaves the regulation of same-sex intercourse to state law.

  Some discrepancies may be explainable by the decentralized nature of the empire and the existence of many non-Hanafi followers such as Shi'a Muslims. But I have not found any sources that say so directly.

• In the Russian Empire, homosexuality was criminalized in 1835 and decriminalized in 1917 as a result of the Russian Revolution.[44][45] The criminalization was reinstated in 1934, with a harsher penalty than before, for unknown reasons.[46] As noted criminalization should be above, decriminalization in this section and reinstatement probably in a new section about the rising nationalism at the beginning of the war which led to re-criminalizations.
• New section "WWII changes", "Impact of nationalism" or something like that which is discussed in detail here pp ix-x and talks about Nazi influence on Italy, France, and Hungary.
  • The three cases don't appear to be that similar. "On August 6, 1942, Pétain signed an ordinance amending article 334 of the Penal Code. The new amendment outlawed all same-sex acts—by men or women—committed by individuals younger than twenty-one". "This law had nothing to do with the Germans"[9] In Hungary existing criminal law saw increasing enforcement (p. 12 cites "rising Nazi influence" as a factor—but says it was worse under the later communist rule (215)), and in Italy, there was no official criminalization/legal change but some off the books enforcement during the last years of fascist Italy and the Italian Social Republic. However, I'm not sure how much of this is WP:DUE to include given that I'm trying to keep the history section concise.
• Romania also was influenced by Nazi Germany, not Russia in its legal trajectory.

• The rise of nationalism meant that countries such as England began to take pride on prosecuting homosexuals. seems totally out of place in the middle of the discussion about Germany. It should go before or after.

• I've gone ahead and removed the sentence because I'm not sure it's important.

• West Germany convicted about the same number of men under the same law until 1969, when homosexuality was partially decriminalized Seems to belong in the next section "Post-World War II" and should also note that East Germany partially decriminalized in 1968.[10] p x

• I'm worried that moving this sentence would be confusing to readers because it doesn't really make sense without the context of the Nazi policy that preceded it. Likewise, I think that breaking the coverage of Russian Empire/Soviet Union into three places could make it harder for readers to follow.

• I think as I said above Russian re-criminalization goes here and a good discussion of Sovietization is here, p. 238

Completely arbitrary break to make editing easier

• Post-World War II: ¶ should probably start with In the decades after World War II, anti-homosexuality laws saw increased enforcement in Western Europe and the United States., not end with it.
  • Done
• Convergence occurred both through the partial decriminalization of homosexuality (as in the United Kingdom, and many other countries) or through the partial criminalization of homosexuality (such as in Belgium, where the first law against same-sex activity came into effect in 1965) Seems overly complicated. Can't we just say "To control morality, many Western European countries, like the UK (1967), Canada (1969), West Germany (1969), and Scandinavia (1972) reformed laws by introducing differing ages of consent (Hildebrandt, pp 239, 241)(p 14) and others, like Belgium, passed its first law against same-sex activity in 1965.
  • I think that wording is confusing because there was both liberalization and additional criminalization that was occurring at the same time. I did list more countries as you suggested.
• This says a similar movement took place in Eastern Europe because homosexuality was seen as incompatible with communist moral health. This pp 35-37 has an interesting discussion on the Soviet consideration for criminalizing lesbian sex.
• Hildebrandt p 239 notes communist countries "Czechoslovakia (1962), Hungary (1962), Bulgaria (1968) and Eastern Germany (1968)" decriminalized and this says that was because of medical developments, i.e. couldn't be cured, repression could potential harm mental health, etc.
  • This is already covered in "arguments against" below. Should it be moved to the history section?
• Section mentions nothing about the rise of activism, which I think is a definite break with previous history which was top-down change. Both Hildebrandt, p 239 This clearly point to the counter-cultural movement for civil rights being the driving force from this point, late 1960s-early 1970s. (You mention concern for human rights, but not the trend of individuals demanding their rights be respected.)
  • Activism is mentioned in the "effects" section as a response to the criminalization laws. The source you mention does discuss the rise of gay rights movements but doesn't support that this is the driving factor in repeal of criminal laws since the 1960s.
• Following a protracted legal battle, the Supreme Court of India kinda jumps out of place. I see no discussion about the Caribbean, and tiny though it is, it broke the British hold the former colonial sodomy laws, as its countries first successfully challenged the leavings clauses, a paternalistic part of the constitutions of newly independent states that agreed to leave British laws that were in place at independence in force in perpetuity.p 431 (chapter from [11]) I grant you that the UK Parliament passed an Order in Council of 2000, which decriminalized sodomy in all British Overseas Territories, but that did nothing to fix the former colonies.[12] The Bahamian government repealed its sodomy laws (unintentially?) in 1991. (Same source p 438) The first successful case in the Caribbean was filed by Caleb Orozco from Belize in 2010. Orozco v Attorney General (2016) was a landmark decision[13] and it was cited as a precedent case for the Trinidad and Tobago case (2018)p 44 and the later India ruling.p 129, part J Not sure if you want to note that Fiji decriminalized effective 2010, but if you list India the precedent cases can't be left out, IMO.[14] (Full disclosure: I was involved in a limited capacity in the Caribbean and do not edit these articles, but supply sources if I can.)
• Resistance to decriminalization: Africa is the only continent where decriminalization of homosexuality has not been widespread since the mid-twentieth century – not sure this statement is totally accurate. North America encompasses Canada, US, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. 3 + 7 (Central America)=10 vs. 30 states in the Caribbean, and resistance there to decriminalization was/is strong, certainly has been fairly widespread. Since Antiqua and Barbuda overturned in 2022, there are still "Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines" that criminalize.[15] Certainly the Caribbean region falls into resistance,p 8 as do the Pacific Islands of Oceania: Cook Islands, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu.(Mignot p 25),[16][17] At a minimum, these areas should be discussed in this section, IMO, especially as you have addressed the other big region of resistance in the Middle East.

• Probably right before Such claims ignore the fact I would input that some former French colonies, such as Algeria and Senegal (1966), Cameroon (1972), Mauritania (1984), Chad (2017) enacted criminalization laws after gaining independence,(Mignot, pp 23-25)p 21 to curtail "moral depravity."pp 150, 155-156

• Added (to the next paragraph). But in the published version of the paper Mignot doesn't connect this to "moral depravity" or former French colony status. (t · c) buidhe 00:43, 22 February 2023 (UTC)

Minnot and Han & Mahoney give chronology, but the latter starting at "French colonies that did have such a law have been very resistant to decriminalization", makes it clear that criminalization had little to do with the colonization. The Jstor link gives an overview of why. (The story of Cameroon's link of homosexuality to witchcraft is fascinating, but I didn't link any articles because it's a one-off.)

Thanks so much for your exceptionally thorough comments! I appreciate the suggestions about reorganization; in the history section I want to give a concise overview of trends without just being a list of places and dates. I downloaded a pdf of Mignot from TWL and could email it to you if desired, since there seem to be some differences from the version you are consulting. (t · c) buidhe 00:43, 22 February 2023 (UTC)

Buidhe I totally understand where you are going, but the way my brain works, I start with details which help me organize chronology and themes and then winnow out material. I really appreciate your work on this. Wish I had more time, but as you saw, yesterday I kept getting drawn away and today I will be doing last minute stuff to get ready for our visitors. I hope my ramblings help you. I look forward to reading it when my guests leave. Best of luck. SusunW (talk) 14:09, 22 February 2023 (UTC)

Comments by skyvine

Hi @Buidhe! I've read through the article and have a few comments. I don't have the expertise to give you anything as comprehensive as SusunW's review, but I think they will be helpful as far as they go.

• The sentence "Some states adopted British-inspired laws criminalizing homosexuality not on the basis of informal influence,[23] while other former British colonies criminalize homosexuality under the influence of sharia law.[24]" is difficult to interpret. I think the main stumbling point is the fragment "not on the basis of informal influence". What is this part trying to communicate? If that part is removed then the sentence makes sense to me, as it shows how criminalization happened both due to British influence and Sharia influence, and the "while" conjunction is contrasting the sources. But I'm not sure if the fragment that I don't understand is causing me to misinterpret.
• In the sentence "Both China and Japan, which had not historically prosecuted homosexuality,[6] criminalized it based on Western models and later decriminalized it.[25]", it is not clear to me why the later decriminalization is called out here. The decriminalization happened 200 years after the time period being discussed in this section. The decriminalization is mentioned in the chronologically appropriate place, along with all the other countries that decriminalized in this time period.
• The statement "UNAIDS set a goal to reduce by half the number of countries with "punitive laws and practices around HIV transmission, sex work, drug use or homosexuality that block effective responses" to the pandemic by 2015.[141]" could use follow up. The goal was set for 8 years ago, did they meet the goal, extend the timeline, or abandon it?
• Finally, there are a number of broken links throughout the article. I looked at a couple and there are places where it could make sense to link to, for example the broken link "Buddhist religious law" could point to Religious_law#Buddhism or Pāṭimokkha or Dhammasattha, depending on what you think is most relevant based on the source. Some of the others are clearer, like pointing Stephen Code to Criminal_Code_(Canada)#History_and_evolution, which discusses the code at the beginning of the timeline. I was going to fix the links myself, but I started with the Griffith Code link (to point it to the relevant section of the article) and noticed that it was labelled as a redirect "with possibilities". I'm not sure if you would prefer to create redirect pages for the broken links as notes that these could be expanded into full articles, or if you would just prefer to link directly to a relevant page/section. I think either would be fine.

skyvine 🏳️‍⚧️ (talk) 22:07, 30 March 2023 (UTC)

Query from Z1720

@Buidhe: It has been over a month since the last comment. Are you still interested in receiving comments, or can this be closed? Z1720 (talk) 01:45, 3 May 2023 (UTC)

Sorry, it should be closed. And I still plan to address Skyvine's comment, I apologize for the delay. (t · c) buidhe 01:50, 3 May 2023 (UTC)