Gay Witch Hunts

The deadly “outings” lasted roughly from the 15th through the 17th centuries in Europe, and the people who accused gay men of being witches even had at their disposal a handbook: the Malleus Maleficarum (”Hammer against Witches”), which was published in the 1480s by two Dominican Catholic priests.

The horror stories were passed from generation to generation and encouraged by local government and religion: The witches would come at night and steal the villagers, forcing them deep into the forests. Once in the woods at a magical fire, all sorts of horrible things would then happen to these poor folks, from being eaten, to being used in pagan rituals and orgies, to being turned into wolves. Basically, anything that went wrong in your life could be blamed on the “witches” who killed babies while they slept, who caused male impotence and female infertility, and miscarriages. If all that weren’t enough, they also were busy spoiling the crops and causing the plague. And just who were these demonic witches? Usually the social outcasts, such as mentally and physically disabled persons, and of course those who were suspected as behaving like queers.

The Malleus Maleficarum had topics such as the merits of torturing with red hot irons as opposed to boiling water, and how to strike the right balance of food and/sleep deprivation. To escape further torture, men accused of being witches (AKA homosexual) would often name neighbor men and attest to their witchery (AKA sexual) behavior. The detailed confessions included the official witchcraft, such as the ability to fly, to cast spells, or to turn themselves into animals. Yet it seems that over and over, one of the inquisitors’ favorite fixations was the sexual practices of the accused men. Confessions included the ability to to magically castrate other men, and in one striking case, even keeping their stolen cocks in birds nests, where they fed them grain and corn! Men would break down and admit that yes, they had buggered with the neighbor man, but that it was the neighbor’s fault for having cast a demonic spell to make him say yes to having sex. Not uncommon, the man with the most valuable land was the one who received the harshest punishment (loosing his assets and maybe his life). Between 1450 and 1750, approximately 110,000 people were tried for witchcraft in Europe and America, of whom 60,000 were executed.

More at: Vintage Gay Media History!