Ma`rifat Farhangi Ejtemaei

In most human societies, having sex with a homosexual was a sign of deviation and disorder in one's personality and was considered one of the greatest sins under the titles of "sodomy" and "lesbianism" for centuries. But today, under the name of "homosexuality", it is moving towards normalization and is sometimes even considered as one of the rubrics of human rights. Emphasizing the subtle semantic differences between sexual behavior, sexual orientation, and sexual identity, the present paper seeks to gather evidence in a historical study to determine what changes occurred in the face of sexuality and related approaches to it, how the public sphere of modern societies shifted from considering homosexuality a sin to considering it a disease, and finally to considering it a normal and legalized and how well documented and scientific these developments were. Most of the psychological works prevalent in Iran represent the current that introduces homosexuality as a natural thing; however, citing the criticisms that have been directed at the naturalization of homosexuality in the last two decades but have not received enough attention, and also investigating homosexuality from an anthropological perspective, the present paper seeks to examine which approach is more justified: considering homosexuality as a natural condition or regarding it as a disorder and disease and failure that if left untreated will cause more damage?