Homosexuality was a perfectly acceptable sexual orientation in ancient Egypt and circa 2400 BC, the Overseers of the Manicurists in the Palace of King Niuserre during the Fifth Dynasty of Egyptian pharaohs were a gay couple, Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum, and were also royal confidants to Niuserre, even receiving burial in a necropolis along with other royal aides.
In ancient Crete, circa 1600 BC - 600 BC, homosexual relationships were not only considered perfectly natural and healthy but they were encouraged in the Cretan aristocracy and, in fact, it was considered deeply shameful for a young aristocrat to not have a male lover.
In ancient Greece, while same-sex marriage was not legally recognised, homosexual relationships were common and socially acceptable, and such relationships were modelled identically to Greek marriages but for the difference in gender of one of the partners.
During the same time, Sappho of Lesbos wrote her many love poems to other women (and also invented the original Mixolydian mode, though because her writings were destroyed by Christians, the name was taken and applied to something completely different but not the actual music theory itself). Sappho of Lesbos would later provide the eventual inspiration for the modern-day terms sapphic and lesbian.
Approximately 200 years later, Plato's Symposium argues that love between two males is the highest form of love and that love between men and women is lustful, only useful for reproduction and prevents men reaching their full potential as people.
Fifty years after Symposium's publication, the Sacred Band of Thebes, an up-until-then-undefeated battalion of 150 gay couple is defeated by Philip II of Macedon, who bemoans their loss and praises their honour.
A mere 12 years later, Philip's bisexual son Alexander the Great conquers most of the known world and converts it to the gay-friendly Hellenistic culture, launching the Hellenistic Age.
With the beginning of the reign of Emperor Augustus, the Roman Empire is ushered in and the first gay marriage is performed. The Roman Empire is a time in which art and literature depict homosexual love in a positive light. Romans, like the Greeks, celebrated love and sex amongst men. Two Roman Emperors publicly married men (one of whom was Nero), some had gay lovers themselves (one of the most beloved Roman Emperors, Trajan, was famously homosexual and Elagabalus, another Emperor, married an athlete named Zoticus in a public ceremony), and homosexual prostitution was taxed.
Starting with the 300-400 AD period, in which Christianity spreads throughout the Western world, the first anti-homosexual laws were brought in. During this time, one of the last pieces of literature celebrating homosexual passion, Nonnus's Dionysiaca, was published.
During the 5th century AD, despite the numerous Christianity-inspired anti-gay laws, the Catholic Church continued to tax homosexual prostitutes.
400 years later, during the 9th century, also in spite of the many laws condemning his feelings as sin, Alcuin of York, an abbot, writes numerous love poems to other monks.
During the 1300s, Edward II of England had a gay lover, Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall. Edward is killed in 1327. sodomised by a red-hot poker.
Over 200 years later, Mary Tudor repeals all laws against sodomy made by her father, only for them to be reinstated after her death by her sister.
In 1791 during the French Revolution, France decriminalises homosexuality and all homosexual acts between consenting adults.
Four years, later Luxembourg and Tuscany follow suit.
In 1811, the Netherlands decriminalises homosexuality and all homosexual acts between consenting adults.
Two years later, Bavaria does the same.
In 1828, the United States makes homosexuality a crime against nature.
Two years later, Brazil goes the opposite direction and decriminsalises it.
In 1852, Portugal decriminalises homosexuality and all homosexual acts between consenting adults.
Six years later, the Ottoman Empire decriminalises sodomy and East Timor completely decriminalises homosexuality and all homosexual acts between consenting adults.
In 1865, San Marino decriminalises homosexuality and all homosexual acts between consenting adults.
In 1870, Joseph and His Friend: A Story of Pennsylvania, the first American novel that portrays a homosexual relationship in a positive light, is published.
In 1871, the Second Reich criminalises homosexuality. During the decade immediately after, Guatemala, Mexico and Japan decriminalise homosexuality and all homosexual acts between consenting adults.
In 1886, Argentina decriminalises homosexuality and all homosexual acts between consenting adults.
Three years later, Italy follows suit.
In 1922, the USSR decriminalises homosexuality and all homosexual acts between consenting adults.
Two years later, Panama, Paraguay and Peru follow suit.
In 1930, Denmark decriminalises homosexuality and all homosexual acts between consenting adults.
Four years later, Uruguay follows suit.
During the 1940s, Iceland, Sweden, Switzerland and Suriname all decriminalise homosexuality and all homosexual acts between consenting adults. Homosexuals liberated from Nazi concentration camps by Allied forces are forced to serve out the rest of their sentence by their liberators.
In the 1950s, 190 US government employees are fired for being gay. During the same decade, Greece and Thailand join the majority of the Western World in decriminalising homosexuality and all homosexual acts between consenting adults.
In the 1960s, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Chad, Bulgaria, East Germany, West Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada join the majority.
In the 1970s, Kosovo, Austria, Costa Rica, Finland, Norway, Malta, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Vojvodina, Cuba and Spain join the majority.
In the 1980s, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Colombia, Belize, Israel and Liechtenstein join the majority.
In the 1990s, the Bahamas, Hong Kong, Ukraine, the Isle of Man, Estonia, Latvia, the Republic of Ireland, Belarus, Gibraltar, Russia, Lithuania, Bermuda, Serbia, South Africa, Albania, Moldova, Romania, Australia, Ecuador, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Gabon join the majority.
In 2003, Armenia joins the majority.
The next year, so do Cape Verde and the Marshall Islands.
A year after, that Puerto Rico conforms to the majority.
In 2006, the United States of America officially becomes completely free of anti-gay laws.
In 2009, India conforms to the majority.
