I'm writing a story set in 1900s Austro-Hungarian Empire (the exact location is Moravia). I'm currently working on a scene, where two Catholic aristocratic characters have a dialogue about homosexuality. One character is a homosexual man, other heterosexual woman. It's about coming out of closet. I’m a very pro-LGBTQ+ myself, so I need arguments for how the male character has been justifying himself for years that he is unnatural and sick. (The female one is the more liberal of the two and doesn't condemn homosexuals, so her job in that scene is to help the gay man understand that he is neither sick nor unnatural.) I'm not a native English speaker, so I am sorry if I couldn't explain this properly and if my explanation is confusing.
First, I would consult the period laws...if he comes out of the closet publicly there is a very high chance he is going to be persecuted. Even many states in the U.S. had anti-sodomy laws in the books until fairly recently and I would think heavily catholic Austro-Hungary would probably have some during the early 1900's as well. Even if today we would say he is neither unnatural nor sick, society of that period is going to reinforce that belief in him. Even if his liberal friend believes in him and tells him he is ok to have such feelings and thoughts, her's is going to be one voice against a myriad of nay-sayers. You will probably have to make a choice with his character arc: does he accept that he is normal, comes out of the closet, and risk being kicked from the Catholic church and persecuted? Or does he accept his fate of remaining imprisoned in a closet society and religion have created for him while accepting his friend's counsel that he is normal?
Is coming out of the closet a concept that existed in 1900s Moravia? What was the local law, and the local attitude? In a lot of Europe there was an established sub-culture, which wasn't seriously concealed but had to sort of pretend to be. Prosecutions were rare, but there was an (oppressive) requirement to keep it out of sight and underground. This would have varied from area to area. I think it gets forgotten that social progress didn't start up out of nowhere in the 1960s, it had always been there. Local research I'd suggest will be really important for this character, and the court records of Moravia might be a place to start. In that place and time, was the attitude one of "purging undesirables," or were the prosecutions infrequent and were they often because the police needed a reason to lock someone up or to make an example? And what does being out of the closet really mean in 1900s Moravia? Perhaps in those days, someone's parents and friends and business colleagues are never directly told (so it is nothing like what it means now!), but people can be what they are so long as they make a show of confining it to the company of other homosexuals, or to certain social territory.
Thank you both for the answers! However, I want to make clear, that the male character comes out of the closet only to the female one (who's his close friend). I've been scrutinizing laws, LGBTQ+ history and public views of their times but I need exact inner thoughts for the male character because I cannot figure out any realistic sounding arguments to put into my characters head.
It might be more interesting to have his own arguments be paper-thin in the first place, just to show how unreasonable it is in the first place. Alternatively, you could go the ultra-religious route: the church he's a part of says homosexuality is wrong, so it must be. Or have ultra-conservative relatives or friends reaffirm it for him. I think having external factors will go a long way to providing internal reasons why he thinks he's sick/unnatural.
Most likely his internal thoughts are going to be echoes of the prevailing social mores. If he is very religious he could struggle with how his homosexuality conflicts with his attempt to be a pious catholic. As an aristocrat there are likely social expectations of how he should behave and who he should marry. These are the sorts of conflicts that will shape his internal view of homosexuality. But ultimately if you are really struggling to get into that headspace, there is nothing any of us can do to help. It comes down to the 'write what you know' advice. If you don't know how internalized homophobia can manifest within a homophobic society, any attempt to write it will come across as flimsy.
So… I can’t comment on the time period, or anything. But if might help to think about how anti-gay people think and feel about homosexuality and try to get into that mindset. The urges are unnatural, because the purpose of sexual attraction is procreation. Being attracted to someone of the same sex is like being attracted to something you can’t procreate with— it would be like being attracted to an inanimate object, like a mannequin, or being attracted to a different species. It’s just ludicrous and doesn’t make sense, and therefore should be fought and ignored. Men and women have different personalities and skillsets and are made to complement each other. A man who is attracted to another man is putting himself into the female role. Women are weaker than men; they are more sensitive and emotional; they need to be “led” by men. A man is debasing himself by putting himself into that role. Admitting you’re attracted to another man is embarrassing and shameful, like being caught shitting your pants. Being attracted to other men may be inherent to a person, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay. Everyone has weird urges sometimes— for example, maybe you have anger problems, and a friend makes a joke at your expense, and you respond by wanting to hit them. Your emotional response makes sense, and it is inherent to you and it isn’t your fault, but that doesn’t make it okay, and you should still ignore those urges and act properly and respectfully towards others. Homosexuality is the same. Just because you feel sexual attraction to men doesn’t mean you should act on it. If it’s a persistent problem, you should seek help from someone more wise than you, like a priest. Dark urges like this are the result of the devil subtly tempting you to commit evil acts. Etc, etc. I think a lot of these beliefs are rooted in sexism— I think it’s hard to be homophobic without being at least a little sexist, honestly. They go hand in hand, because the fear and hatred of gay men is often rooted in the idea it’s disgusting for men to lower themselves to acting like women, and scary when gay men hit on straight men. Anyway… a lot of these beliefs go very deep. I’d recommend taking the angle that your gay character has heard all of these arguments before, and he’s tried to believe them, but they’ve always felt wrong to him. Another angle you could take is: Your gay character feels scared by the idea of being persecuted, and he associates that fear with his attraction. So when he feels attracted to other men… he also feels scared and sick. That might be the simplest way to do it.
I would imagine if he felt that way, he’d be very vocal about it to compensate for his self-loathing. That seems to be a consistent theme with self-hating gays. How many times have we heard about a fervent anti-gay congressman caught getting his dick sucked in a truck stop mens room?
