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Wasn't there a homosexual couple in the Ciaphas Cain books? Magot and Grifen, I think?

Not ever said outright (due to it being written from Cain's point of view and him not ever asking) but it's quite heavily implied, I think.

It probably would be considered as it was in the medieval era:

Homosexuality would be seen as something divergent, that is wrong, and could bring a punishment, as well as something far more accepted and/or fancied among the aristocracy.

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Imperial writ basically says that anything done in pursuit of pleasure is heretical.

It also says that things done to ensure the smooth running of the Imperium are to be endorsed.

Personally, I would read this as: "Be as gay or as het as you like, as long as you only have sex to stay sane and productive."

Another note: It's the Ultramarines who spend all their free time lounging around in bathrobes and getting oiled up by serfs together. Dark Angels are more into meditation and metaphorical self-flaggelation (while Imperial Fists are more into literal self-flaggelation).

If a Dark Angel isn't reading, being berated by an over zealous Chaplain, snooping on the older tomes and walking right into an Inner Circle meeting, being berated and forced to write the entire contents of a prayer book over and over, getting his gak figuratively kicked in by Asmodai, watching Asmodai getting his literal gak kicked in by Azrael or Sapphon, bolter drilling, sparring, berated by Asmodai, being berated by Belial, or just being plain berated by somebody, then he's sleeping.

Also, if a Dark Angel is meditating, then a Chaplain will burst in and berate him for not reading (but not too much) or drilling, but if he's drilling or reading, then a Chaplain will burst in and berate him for not meditating at the chapel.

I feel like berating the chaplain for berating everyone.

The proportion of the population that is gay or lesbian is around three to five percent. This is simply another statistic to them. A portion of the population that will not likely breed, but will still lead productive lives in the factory and thus still benefit the Imperium. The accountants of the Administratum take this in to consideration, and then move on to the next number.

From what I've seen, it's beyond the scope of the source material.

Sometimes a spade is just a spade, and not a commentary on social matters.

I prefer to take the "the Imperium treats everyone as numbers" route, myself.

I tend to agree with Melissa. to the Imperium at large people are just numbers. so long as you're loyally serving the imperium, filling your quotas etc. they seem not to care too much. things like banning homosexuality etc? out side the scope of the Imperium, I mean rememebr one of the biggest RULES of the Imperium is "worship the emperor" and even THAT has considerable leeway in HOW it's done. The only way I could see the Imperium stepping in is if somehow it became common eneugh that it was hurting birthrates. then the Imperium (proably through an inqusitor) might step in

It might vary from planet to planet, but I don't see the Imperium, in general, giving anything like a feth.

ETA:

The reason for this question is that I had a fluff discussion with a fellow gamer about the fundamentals of the Imperial Creed, and whether it should be viewed as a taken from fundamental Hebrew/Christian/Muslim principles; or rather it is a simple concept based on the exterior properties of religions IRL, concerning only the divinity of the Emperor.

By the time the Imperial Creed was being created, the religions of modern-day humanity were many, many, many thousands of years dead, gone and forgotten. The Imperial Creed and the Ecclesiarchy are depicted to us in more-or-less familiar ways, because it's being written by authors who are more-or-less familiar with modern-day religious institutions (and the history behind the same), but if it were real, there would be little to no similarity between the society of 40K and the society of today, or any of its institutions. So, in essence, the Imperial Creed/Ecclesiarchy is only Catholic "flavored", but is not, in actuality (or in-universe) based on Judaeo-Christian beliefs.

 Psienesis wrote:
By the time the Imperial Creed was being created, the religions of modern-day humanity were many, many, many thousands of years dead, gone and forgotten.

That is only assuming those religions will die off, which means assuming that they are not true. Which is what 40k does, and the only sensible choice .
Also, judeo-christian → christian.

All religions die, eventually. Whether or not they are true is... irrelevant, really.

Pretty sure the imperium doesn't care. If anything, it views it as a loss in production of new bodies for the imperial meat grinder.

Though, balancing that out, the heterosexual siblings of homosexuals tend to have higher-than-average numbers of children themselves. Might even be a net-gain for the Imperium.

 Psienesis wrote:
All religions die, eventually.

Not if they are true. If one was true, it would have God/the gods regularly sending messengers or doing miracles or whether the hell to make sure people would continue to worship him. So, yeah, I agree, all religions die eventually .

Most people have hit it dead on; the Imperium doesn't care what you do, as long as it doesn't fall under the categories of mutant, alien, or heretic. Being gay does not prohibit you from working in the name of the God-Emperor, and it's not like population decline is a concern to the Imperium (most Hive Cities could repopulate the entire human race from extinction on their own with very little encouragement). The other thing is that things vary greatly from planet to planet because Planetary Governors have an awful lot of freedom within their jurisdiction, but in the context of the Imperium, I don't see why Governors would suddenly decide that homosexuality is evil. Our societal stigma is self-perpetuating, it doesn't come from nowhere. Also, it being considered Slaaneshi is rather absurd.

 welshhoppo wrote:
I read the title as LRBT. And I was wondering what could possibly be wrong with the Leman Russ.

I opened this thread because I had that exact question.

 Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:
All religions die, eventually.

Not if they are true. If one was true, it would have God/the gods regularly sending messengers or doing miracles or whether the hell to make sure people would continue to worship him. So, yeah, I agree, all religions die eventually .

Proof denies faith... and even if there is "proof", there are always iconoclasts. There might even be oppositional deific forces who have mortal servants who completely eradicate the followers of another. After all, we can look back on the Sumerians (for example), to see some of the earliest examples of organized religion, but we have no proof that their gods did not actually exist... only that their cults were exterminated or assimilated into other, more-powerful cultures of the era. The argument could even be made that theirs are the only "true" gods... and what is worshipped now in the various religions of mankind are but poorly-remembered legends and pale shadows of the true Elder Gods, simplified and codified for a society that is more-easily controlled by monotheistic cults.

I would imagine that it varies from world to world. Some places won't care, others criminalize it as heresy. I can imagine intolerance being rife though- the 41st millennium brings out the worst in people.

This is why you go with Slaanesh- he/she/it welcomes all orientations (except asexuals because they're no fun). After all, Daemonettes are canonically futas in older fluff.

Rather than talking about truth and whatnot, I would like to point something out:

Religions do not die. They simply change. A case in point would be the fact that Animism, one of the most basic and crude forms of religion known, potentially the first religion, even, still has adherents.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Rather than talking about truth and whatnot, I would like to point something out:

Religions do not die. They simply change. A case in point would be the fact that Animism, one of the most basic and crude forms of religion known, potentially the first religion, even, still has adherents.

Last I checked the Greek and Egyptian pantheons are as dead as the dodo and lack the power of any other scant remnants. They are not religions anymore.

I agree. Religions do die. Aninism is as much one religion as monotheism.

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Rather than talking about truth and whatnot, I would like to point something out:

Religions do not die. They simply change. A case in point would be the fact that Animism, one of the most basic and crude forms of religion known, potentially the first religion, even, still has adherents.

Last I checked the Greek and Egyptian pantheons are as dead as the dodo and lack the power of any scant remnants they have to muscle in as religions.

Yu-Gi-Oh! would like a word about the Egyptian pantheon

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Rather than talking about truth and whatnot, I would like to point something out:

Religions do not die. They simply change. A case in point would be the fact that Animism, one of the most basic and crude forms of religion known, potentially the first religion, even, still has adherents.

Last I checked the Greek and Egyptian pantheons are as dead as the dodo and lack the power of any scant remnants they have to muscle in as religions.

Yet influences from ancient Greek and Egyptian religions still remain in present-day religions. Religion never dies, it merely changes. People go from worshipping one god to the other, and in doing so, they will take things from their former religion and fit it into the new one. Just look at the Christian holidays for a good example.

Also, the ancient Greek religion is not dead: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenism_%28religion%29

In one of the BL novels (Gaunts ghosts I think, not sure) it talks about how a man fell in love with one of the characters, but he rejected him, and so the man killed himself. It words it in a way that suggests there is no particular attitude one way or another to homosexuality, and that homosexuality is seen as normal, but not necessarily common, the characters were more affected by the mans' death; the fact he was homosexual, was irrelevant.

Imperial religion would most likely have very little to say on the matter, as long as devotion to the emperor and your quota was observed; bear in mind by the time of the horus heresy, humanity was VERY progressive, and while this has kinda changed by the 41st millenium, their religion was influenced heavily by this period of time.

$50 says Alpahrius and omegan (spelling) got it on on the regs

In the older books a companion of inquisitor czevak had boy lovers

The_River wrote:
In the older books a companion of inquisitor czevak had boy lovers

... and Czevak didn't execute him for being unfaithful why?

 Furyou Miko wrote:

The_River wrote:
In the older books a companion of inquisitor czevak had boy lovers

... and Czevak didn't execute him for being unfaithful why?

And when you say boy, do you mean male? Because it kinda reads like the guy was a paedophile, which is a bit dark for GW....

You're all wrong. The correct answer is, who gives a feth.

VanHallan wrote:
You're all wrong. The correct answer is, who gives a feth.

The Imperium might, since it's a dystopian setting.

Leman Gus Battle Tanks are not heresy, no.

 A Town Called Malus wrote:
[Because it kinda reads like the guy was a paedophile, which is a bit dark for GW....

Yeah, it does kinda reads that way. I do not think it is too dark for 40k, just too… potentially controversial. Too linked to real-world issues, actually.