I went to the LGBTQ histories exhibition at the British museum. This provided me with an excellent opportunity to explore how homosexual and transgender people were treated throughout history's different civilisations, particularly during catholic Europe. At the exhibition I found that prejudice behaviours towards LGBTQ people are reflected in both contemporary and modern societies, as well as ancient and early modern periods of history. Two pieces that drew my attention at the exhibition were the gold earring and roman lamp, both depicting Ganymede. During ancient Greece and Rome, attitudes towards homosexuality and gender were more relaxed, but with the emergence of christianity and its dominance from medieval Europe, these attitudes became colder. Ganymede is an example of same sex desire evident in classical myths- a man in the form of a bird, who abducted Jupiter. However, I learnt that the word 'Ganymede' was used as an abusive term during medieval and early modern Europe, and that being homosexual was considered a sin to be punished by death. This now links back to my first exploration of what was considered "mortal sin" in traditional Catholicism. The exhibition has shown me that people in the past and present resisted these traditional views against homosexuality.
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