Nothing new under the sun

Perhaps the issue of same sex relationships has been with us longer than we thought.

Telling Secrets and Integrity USA (go to page 4 of the .pdf) present some evidence to support this thesis.

From a plaque at St. Stephen's, Hackington (Diocese of Centerbury):

On the south side of the chancel and within the rails lie the remains of Mr. William Bunce of Camberwell, Surrey. Son of the Rev. John Bunce. Formerly vicar of this parish for more than half a century and of Mr. William Carter also of Camberwell and a native of the City of Lichfield. The former died 22 August 1831 aged 76 years and the later, 2 September 1836 aged 83 years. They had lived in a course of uninterrupted friendship for sixty years. And in the grave they are not divided.

And from The Telegraph, July 22, 2008:

‘Til we were parted after death

Vatican hierarchs… have now even ordered the parting of Cardinal John Henry Newman from his long-time priest friend Fr. Ambrose St. John, in their shared grave in a secluded cemetery on the outskirts of Birmingham, England. The reason: Cardinal Newman may soon be declared a saint ... The cardinal's human remains are to be disinterred, separated from his close friend's, and then buried again in a sarcophagus in the centrally located Birmingham Oratory. For more than a century, John and Ambrose together have rested in the peace of a mutually shared grave -- close friends during life, and close friends even after death…. This was repeatedly requested by Cardinal Newman himself, verily as his dying wish.