The Bloody Summer
A Meeting on the Mountain
“Are you there?”
His voice was hesitant as he pushed the door of the little goathouse. Normally, it would have been because he was not confident using another tongue than his native German. This time however, the anxiety that was making his tone shake had a deeper source; graver than he knew. Namely, it originated from the folded piece of paper he had been holding in his hand, for fear that keeping it in his soiled farmer’s garment would make its content somehow void.
Getting no answer, the young man entered and was welcomed by the friendly bleating of the animals, who had gotten accustomed to his presence over the last few months. He half-expected to find his loved one sleeping on the hay in the further end of the little building, where the light was dimmer and the summer heat more bearable. Yet, only the shape that their bodies had left in the hay the day before was to be seen, and that was already disappearing as the animals had started to eat around it.
He went to check the cottage, which was scarcely bigger than the goathouse. The actual farmhouse, owned by his companion’s father, was downhill. Inside, on the kitchen table, he found a note left to his attention. He had a close look at the few lines that addressed him, frowned and thought for a minute, then put it in his chest pocket and left.
Unfortunately, Johann was illiterate, and perhaps that is the real reason why he was still pressing the precious document so hard against his fingers. For fear that, not knowing the function of letters, they would get scrambled or scattered all over the sheet of paper, should he dirty it or hold it improperly. And so, the message that was left on the table remained a mystery to him. “Father has heard the news. He will kill you if he sees you again. Please stay on your side of the mountain, it is best for everyone. I’m sorry.”
Unknowing that those were the words that he was keeping against his heart, Johann was troubled but light-hearted, for he was still bearing joyful news. He took a moment to unfold and admire the document on the way down, in awe before the indecipherable printed signs, the fancy header, the intricate arabesques and the curvy signature that somehow guaranteed his happiness – and Andrej’s. Looking gratefully at the peaceful sky, he took a deep breath and started walking down the path to the farmhouse.
Unprecedented Change
On July 1st, 1897, the Holy Roman Empire took the world by surprise by legalizing same-sex marriage for all citizens. Few indeed could have foretold this development in the Germanic policies, considering that the decriminalization of same-sex relationships thirteen years earlier had been done as quietly as conceivable, drowned as it was in a nondescript puddle of mostly contradictory laws.
Many observers have said that this decision, which flew in the face of the social and religious tendencies throughout the world, was meant as a long thought-out statement. In Josef Tahler’s own words: “if this is an age of progress, progress should be seen in all facets of the world, and not concern itself only with power – in a truly progressivist society, of which the Holy Roman Empire now takes pride in being an archetype, change should precede acceptance”. Whether or not the philosopher’s views influenced Imperial politics, the Empire did, in fact, attempt to precede acceptance. Perhaps too much, or at least too secretively.
Allowing same-sex marriage in the Empire may not have been catastrophic if it were not for the historically non-Germanic areas. Slovenia, for instance, saw particularly intense backlash as the population felt that the emperor was exceeding his privilege to meddle with local traditions and politics. Many criticized him for overpromoting cultural assimilation, and homosexuals became the scapegoats of the protests. Throughout the country, homophobia reached unprecedented heights, with hundreds of allegedly homosexual people being assaulted, mobbed, or murdered, mostly in the non-Germanic countryside. This was the Blutiger Sommer – the Bloody Summer.
Some of the reactionary extremism was lessened when the Catholic Church specified that homosexual couples getting married would face immediate excommunication. This seemed to be a more acceptable compromise, with homosexual couples enjoying great improvement in their life, despite the decreased career opportunities and religious rejection. Still, the damage of the initial backlash could not be undone.
While those dreadful events might have been avoided, the Tahlerist audacity to “make change precede acceptance” forced the matter of homosexuality to be discussed despite the overall resistance. This eventually led to a rise in recognition worldwide, and even to a few “obsolete” laws being revised or revoked.
Same-sex marriage has not been legalized anywhere else since, and the world’s politics have been rather quiet about it. That said, it is normally not expressly forbidden anymore. Marriage laws are only loosely enforced, and putting a ring on your loved one’s finger, whoever they may be, mostly comes down to finding an open-minded clerk.
With a twist of historical irony, some have argued that much more queer blood would have been spilled without the Blutiger Sommer...
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