Abstract

MARTIN SANCHEZ, María. Historical approach to the legal and social treatment given to homosexuality in Europe. Estudios constitucionales [online]. 2011, vol.9, n.1, pp. 245-276. ISSN 0718-5200.  doi: 10.4067/S0718-52002011000100009.

Homosexuality is not a recent phenomenon, but it has been present in all societies and civilizations along History, being treated in many different ways depending on diverse factors. The experience reveals that the different attitudes towards homosexuality, from its acceptance or veneration to its criminal conviction, respond to each society's level of tolerance, without forgetting other circumstances. The evolution of homosexuality throughout History has currently achieved, not only its legal protection from discrimination in the highest European Organisms, such as the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), but also the acknowledgement of same sex marriages in some countries, such as Spain, Holland or Belgium.

Keywords : Homosexuality; tolerance; repression; nature; discrimination.