Adam and Steve


"Adam and Steve" is a phrase that originated from the conservative Christian slogan "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve", intended to concisely summarize Judeo-Christian Bible-based arguments against gay sexual practices or homosexuality.
The assumption behind this phrase is that the Biblical account of the creation of human beings as a male-female pair illustrates the natural or divinely-intended way of life for humanity. It occurs in some Christian right anti-LGBT rhetoric.

History

The phrase appeared, on a protest sign, as early as 1977, as mentioned in a New York Times news service report about a November 19 rally in Houston that year. The phrase was used in "The Gay Bar", an episode of Maude broadcast on December 3, 1977. Two years later, Jerry Falwell gave the phrase wider circulation in a Christianity Today report of a press conference he had given. The phrase later acquired a certain notoriety, and, when used to name a pair of characters in a work of fiction, helps to identify them as members of a homosexual pair. The phrase was used by the Democratic Unionist Party MP David Simpson during the British House of Commons' debate on same-sex marriage, although a slip of the tongue originally saying "in the Garden of Eden, it was Adam and Steve" initially caused laughter in the chamber.

Variations and other languages

The phrase "Madam and Eve" is sometimes used analogously in reference to lesbian relationships.
In Portuguese, the phrase is rendered as "Deus criou Adão e Eva, não Adão e Ivo".