Page "LGBT social movements" Paragraph 9

In eighteenth and nineteenth century Europe, same-sex sexual behaviour and cross-dressing were widely considered to be socially unacceptable, and were serious crimes under sodomy and sumptuary laws.

There were, however, some exceptions.

For example, in the 17th century cross dressing was common in plays, as, for example, evident in the content of many of William Shakespeare's plays ( and by the actors in the actual performances, since female roles in Elizabethan Theater were always performed by males, usually prepubescent boys ).

And Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera " Apollo et Hyacinthus " was performed by males only, although the libretto differed from the original text of Ovidius to reduce homosexual relations among Apollon, Hyacinthus, and Zephyrus.