"In general, there is a continent in the Realms is marked by
sexual equality; females and males are equally educated, respected,
valued, and eligible for all roles in society. This applies just as
well to southern lands, in which men often have several wives while
women have only one husband, although the Northerners and Southerners
often misunderstand each others' social structures. This is typical of
a widespread phenomenon throughout the Realms: in matters of courtship,
marriage, sex, and reproduction, as in most matters, there is enough
adventuring and trade that people are familiar with many foreign
customs; nevertheless, most people consider their own customs to be
civilized and proper, while all other customs are unjust and barbarian.
     There is a strong emphasis placed on the importance of marriage
throughout the Realms, although courtship, marriage ceremonies, and
family structures vary considerably. Marriage may be conducted by
clerics of almost every church, and the marriages of all faiths are
considered equally valid and binding. While sex is generally considered
more blessed after marriage, there is very little social stigma in the
lands of Faerun placed on premarital sex between consenting
hetero-sexual adults. The prevailing attitude seems to be that a young
woman and young man will choose (or be chosen for) one another, and
that the same mutual feelings that would inspire them to have sex will
lead them to want to be married.
     Of course, this ideal is often not satisfied. Trysts, whether
tragic or comically gone awry, are a favorite subject of bards. Rape is
all too common, and is strongly condemned by agents of Good, Chaos, and
Law, as violations of personal rights, individual autonomy, and stable
social order, respectively.
     Two variations in particular of this ideal face strong societal
disapproval: interracial and homosexual relations. Interracial
marriages are tacitly considered inferior. The elf who marries a human
is considered to have married beneath her station; her spouse will die
while she is still young, and her half-elven children will face great
discrimination and will never fully be able to participate in their
elven heritage. Similarly, half-orcs are considered somehow even more
tainted than orcs, possibly because of the unspoken assumption that
they are not only half-breed, but the half-breed offspring of rape.
     On a related note, although it is common knowledge that many
people and beasts of the Realms owe their existence to crossbreeding of
different species, we do not presently have an adequate explanation for
why some species can crossbreed with others and some can not, nor why
some crossbreeds, like mules, are sterile, and others, like half-elves,
are not.
     Homosexual couples are almost unheard of in the Realms, and then
they are a matter of scorn. Elm's scribe, is widely rumored to be
Elm's lover, and the arrangement is only tolerated because of Elm's
unapproachable high status and legendary eccentricity. Otherwise, homo-
sexuality is only discussed in malicious gossip and histories of family
scandals.
     Homosexuals are, however, rumored to be found in disproportionatly
high numbers among certain groups, such as adventurers, who have often
been driven to adventure because they couldn't quite fit into normal
society, and the priesthoods of faiths which require celibacy, since
the priests never need to explain their lack of interest in
conventional marriage. Of course, most people believe homosexuality to
be more common in groups they with which they have formed rivalries or
are actively hostile. Organized groups are said to have formed in large
cities, but their memberships and activities are highly guarded
secrets. Little scholarly data are known about the actual frequency of
homosexuals in the Realms, or about their relative distribution among
men, among women, and among the various races, nations, and
occupations.
     Sexual matters are not in the explicit portfolio of any major god
in the Realms, although strong cases might be made for the bewitching
goddess of beauty, and the sado-masochistically appealing goddess of
pain. A small cult has begun to grow praising the name of the Lord of
Sex and Carnality, whom I take to be either a new lesser power or else
a more explicitly sexual aspect of a more established god.
     The use of magic in sex has been extremely limited, due in part to
people's understandable reluctance to let mages or clerics experiment
on their sexual organs or psyches. The spells listed above should be
considered extremely rare. After all, only homosexuals and virulent
homo-phoebes would be likely to have spent their lives researching
spells concerning alternative sexualities, and even if such people are
not as uncommon as we think, they are certainly difficult to discover.
Most of the other known spells either use people's sexual desire as a
weapon against them, or show a marked obsession with artificially
enhancing the spellcaster's own sexual pleasure. Unfortunately, rare
are sexual spells designed to help others overcome sexual dysfunctions
or to enhance others' sexual pleasure, and it is this sage's humble
opinion that the most fruitful sexual research lies in this direction."