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xii PREFACE landowners. By the early twentieth century, states passed laws to sexually steril- ize persons considered “deviant.” With the development of psychology, psycho- pathic laws were passed to indefi nitely incarcerate those convicted of illegal sexual crimes. These three categories of laws created a cache of documents that dem- onstrate how confused legislators were concerning human sexuality and moral- ity. Court proceedings and decisions also help to shed light on the relationship between religion and sexuality in early America. Unfortunately, legislation and court proceedings only show the tip of the iceberg concerning homosexual behav- iors and nothing about same-sex relationships—and what is shown is extremely negative. Finally, we have the problem of identity. The “gay identity” is decidedly a mod- ern term that cannot be properly applied to people of earlier cultures. Also, the gay-straight dichotomy is extremely limiting. How people express their gender, sexual orientation, sex roles, and more is extremely fl uid. It seems that for most of human history and most places on this earth, conforming to gender roles was important whereas whom you had sex with was not. Considering that there are no documents showing same-sex marriages, or the adoption of children by same-sex couples, or diaries that explicitly state homosexual behaviors or “gay” identities, it is problematic to tell a history that includes LGBTQ people. Since Stonewall, and in particular the past 30 years, gay rights have come to the forefront of world politics. Every day there is some act of gay protest, opposi- tion to gay rights, laws being passed or rescinded that specifi cally identify sexual orientation, and other events. Thus, any chronology, including this one, will be incomplete. Readers are encouraged to use this list as a starting point in their own research.