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When he is speaking to you or singing opposite you, look down as you respond to him, so that you do not by gazing at his face take the seed of desire from the enemy sower and bring forth the harvest of corruption and loss.

— Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality by John Boswell

Briefly put, the thesis of this trend in scholarship is that Lot was violating the custom of Sodom (where he was himself not a citizen but only a "sojourner") by entertaining unknown guests within the city walls at night without obtaining the permission of the elders of the city. When the men of Sodom gathered around to demand that the strangers be brought out to them, "that they might know them," they meant no more than to "know" who they were, and the city was consequently destroyed not for sexual immorality but for the sin of inhospitality to strangers.

— Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality by John Boswell

We usually describe the smell [of blood] as "metallic" because it's similar to the smell left on our fingers when we handle coins, or in the air when we scrub a bare metal pan or sink. ... Our hominid ancestors would have known that molecule [epoxy decenal] and smell long before they paid much attention to rocks and ores, so for much of our prehistory, they may well have experienced metals as bloody-smelling.

— Nose Dive by Harold Mcgee

“You have to be careful in the city,” she says. “They have laws against sodomy.” “If they do, they don’t enforce them,” Fetter says. “I see a lot of people together—“ “That’s not how laws work, son,” she says. “A visible law is a ploy, a little play. A mummery in waiting, waiting for you to become interesting. Never give them a reason to care who you are.”

— The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera