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08/13/05-08/15/05

Ancient Egypt gossiped about gays

The old saying "The more things change, the more they stay the same" just got a little older. A noted Egyptologist says that Ancient Egyptians gossiped about celebrities' homosexuality, among other things.

Lisa Schwappach-Shirriff is the curator of San Jose, Calif.'s Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, which has North America's largest collection of Egyptian artifacts. In digging through the museum's archives and other evidence, she uncovered a penchant for tabloid-style gossip.

Discovery News reports that one 5,000-year-old text described an unidentified king often visiting the home of one of his generals at night. Schwappach-Shirriff says the repeated use of the phrase "in whose home there was no wife" suggests the king was having a gay affair. But she says the gossip doesn't necessarily mean the Egyptians were antigay. She says the implicit disapproval may really be about his failure to produce an heir. (Sirius OutQ News)

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