October 30, 130 AD. Eighteen hundred and seventy three years ago today, Antinous drowned in the Nile. Perhaps it is appropriate that we celebrate tonight as "mischief night" for opening ancient closets is always a source of mischief.

This mischief will constitute Part Three of my "Fall" series. In Parts One and Part Two I discussed the origins of the conflict between religion and sexuality which, I believe, still plagues us today. I concluded Part Two thusly:

Of course, the early Christians kept having problems with Antinous. More on this problem in Part Three.

The anniversary of Antinous's death seems remarkable in its proximity to Halloween, and I don't think it is too much of a stretch to say that even today we are still dealing with the fallout from a war between sex and religion started long, long ago.

Tim Sandefur asked me, "Why is it that Hallowe'en has become a gay holiday?"Without any further research, some obvious reasons come to mind. Halloween is: childish in the Peter Pan sense, theatrical, pagan in origin, involves partying at night, and dressing in costumes.

That's for starters, but it doesn't touch on Antinous. Hopefully, there will be more tomorrow, as I am drifting downstream.....

Don't wanna drown in denial....