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Several U.S. Supreme Court Justices asked for a history lesson on same - sex marriage last week , but the answers they got were far from complete , experts say .
Three of the nine justices asked for a legal antecedency of same - sex wedding , when they listen on April 28 to arguments on whether the establishment should be , in nitty-gritty , effectual and recognise countrywide . Chief Justice John Roberts prove the interrogation of precedence , saying , " Every definition that I look up , prior to about a dozen years ago , defined marriage as ace between a man and a woman as hubby and wife,“according to motor lodge transcript .
A bust of Emperor Nero, who married a man, according to historians.
Justice Samuel Alito added , " as far as I ’m aware , until the end of the twentieth century , there was never a nation or a culture that acknowledge marriage between two hoi polloi of the same sex . " He afterward added , " There have been cultures that did not frown on homosexuality , " such as ancient Greece , but they still did n’t accept gay marriage , as far as he be intimate . [ 10 Milestones in Gay Rights History ]
During an telephone exchange with Mary Bonauto , one of the lawyers arguing for the plaintiffs , who are in favor of same - gender wedding , Justice Antonin Scalia enjoin , " But I do n’t know of any — do you know of any lodge , prior to the Netherlands in 2001 , that permitted same-sex spousal relationship ? "
Bonauto answered that , as a effectual subject , she did not .
In fact , same - sex marriage has pass off throughout the ages , although some civilisation might look at it through a different electron lens , expert tell Live Science .
Here ’s a feeling at a few of these unions from cultures around the human race , include ancient Rome , Native American people in the American Plains and pre - compound Africa .
Same - sex precedency
Ancient Romans , or at least R.C. men with power and wealth , couldmarry same - sex partners , say Elizabeth Abbott , source of " A History of marriage ceremony " ( Seven Stories Press , 2011 ) .
Emperor Nero ( ruled A.D. 54 to A.D. 68 ) castrated a boy named Sporus to make him womanlike , and then married him in a traditional ceremony , which included a bridal caul and a dower , consort to the Roman historian and biographer Suetonius ( circa A.D. 69 ) .
Emperor Elagabalus ( decree A.D. 218 to A.D. 222 ) married Zoticus , a famous male person athlete , and referred to his slave , a man diagnose Hierocles , as his hubby , Abbott articulate .
There are also texts referring tolesbian relationships , but not marriages , in ancient Rome , Abbott said . Perhaps these charwoman did not have enough big businessman or influence to actually marry , she say .
" flush , powerful men in ancient Rome could do it , and receive ways of doing it because they were rich and powerful , " Abbott told Live Science . However , it does n’t appear that same - sex marriage ceremony was far-flung in ancient Rome .
" In other words , it wasa thought people had , " Abbott say . " But there were very few citizenry who were actually capable to do it . "
In another case , some Native American peoples , such as the Crow , participated in same - sexual activity wedding , although their refinement belike viewed it another way , say Helen Boyd , a lecturer of grammatical gender studies at Lawrence University in Wisconsin .
Some Native American societies accepted the theme that some people have " two spirits " ( the term " berdache " is also used , but some masses consider it offensive ) . multitude with two spirit had both maleness and femaleness inside of them , and could marry someone who was the same biological sex , Boyd aver . [ 10 Wedding Traditions from Around the reality ]
For case , a biological male person with two spirits could live as a woman and marry a man , Boyd said .
char - woman marriages
Across the creation , there were lodge in pre - compound Africa that permitted women to marry other woman . These marriage typically help widow women who did n’t desire to remarry a man or recall to their house or their husband ’s kinfolk after the husband ’s death , grant to a 2009 research article bring out in thejournal Global Southby Marc Epprecht , the prof and head of global development studies at Queens University in Canada .
Instead , the widow woman could pay a bride price and perform other ritual involve to get hitched with another fair sex , Epprecht said .
The widow would then act as the hubby in the relationship , and conserve her inheritance and family line of descent , Epprecht pronounce . Another man could knock up the widow woman ’s wife , but he would have no claim on the child . Instead , the woman - cleaning woman couple would raise the child , Epprecht said .
" A central thing in African political and societal thought is belonging to someone , " said Thomas McClendon , a prof of history at Southwestern University in Texas . " You ’re someone ’s daughter or son , and you finally become an ancestor when you die .
" It ’s significant to have descendent , " McClendon said . " This is a way in which woman could achieve that status even if theydidn’t have a married man . "
There are other example of same - sex marriage : The Muxe of southern Mexico were biologic males who lived as char and were allowed to marry men ; the Fa’afafine of Samoa have a like setup , as do the Hijra in India and Pakistan , and the Kathoey in Thailand , Boyd said .
" westerner tend to put these mass in the ' gay ' box , so their marriages are — to our centre — same - sex marriages , even though they are , more specifically , spousal relationship between two otherwise gendered people , " Boyd said .
There have always been gay mass , and they ’ve often married , " just not to each other , " Abbott say .
" In my marriage book , I talk about the frightening , the dreaded issue of draw multitude to marry against their instinct , their preference , " Abbott said . " Historically , you had mess of unhappy marriage , in all probability for that rationality . "
