There Were "Gatherings" In Graveyards
The Black Plague was a stressful time to be alive, for obvious reasons. One way to cope, according to historian David Herlihy in The Black Plague and the Transformation of the West, was by celebrating life in cemeteries. "Group activities" were one of the ways people celebrated life. At Avignon's Champfleur cemetery, for example, things got so bad that a papal official had to threaten the "fornicators and adulterers" with excommunication for committing "unseemly acts" on the graves.
Street walkers even took advantage of this desire by hanging out at cemeteries. It wasn't all fornication: revelers also dared to dance, fight, throw dice, and play other games among the graves as well.
Medical Experts Advised Limited "Physical Activity"
Medical logic at the time said that too much "physical activity" "overheated the body," according to Joseph Patrick Byrne's The Black Plague, and this allowed "bad air" to enter the body through one's pores, increasing the chances of catching the plague. Heavy breathing during the act might also lead to inhaling too much of that same "bad air." A German physician even advised that "all physical exertions and emotions of the mind," including running, jumping, jealousy, and promiscuity, should be totally avoided or risk catching the dreaded Black Plague. What could people do? They could spend their downtime "relating tales and stories and with good music to delight their hearts."
"Selling Yourself" Was Institutionalized
As the casualty toll of the plague increased, working girls benefited more and more, according to Jeffrey Richards. They began to enjoy a "seller's market" due to a general lack of labor in the era, leading to "a general improvement of their conditions."
Leah Lydia Otis wrote that as the Black Plague waned, there was a "quantum leap in the institutionalization of [working girls.]" Municipally-owned "parlors" were built, complete with "royal safeguards." Otis did note, however, that the demand for girls began to wane at that time, as well.
Some Thought Immorality Helped Cause The Plague
Joseph Patrick Byrne wrote that many lawmakers at the time adopted the "Christian belief that sin angered God, who expressed his divine wrath through plague," and they turned those beliefs into legislation. Many older "moral laws" essentially became just plain laws. This meant sexual immorality was heavily legislated. This "sanitary" legislation targeted sodomy and selling one's body in particular. In Florence, for example, working girls were "kicked out" of the city in the waning years of the Black Plague. When the industry reemerged in the decades that followed, they were still forbidden to work on the streets. Certain establishments, however, were still allowed to legally operate.
There Was Still An Active Gay Subculture
According to the Encyclopedia of Homosexuality, Volume 2, a "vital urban subculture" of homosexuals existed during the Black Plague. It wasn't until the Renaissance that "more detailed records of the life and attitudes of homosexual men and women" emerged, but this vital subculture was alive, despite "only fleeting glimpses of it in the literature" of the period.
A few decades before the Black Plague, King Edward II of England was murdered, and centuries-old rumors say he was executed for homosexual activity. (Mel Gibson's Braveheart received a lot of criticism for its negative portrayal of Edward.) The belief that "sexual immorality" such as "sodomy" helped cause the Black Plague surely was another factor in keeping the subculture hidden during the period.
'Pseudo-Flagellants' Performed Acts In Public
So-called "flagellants" during the Black Plague were, according to Professor Mark Damen of Utah State University, "professional self-torturers" who went around whipping themselves for a fee in order to "bring God's favor upon a community hoping to avert the bubonic plague." They were literal whipping boys that people employed to buy "remission from sin." The Church, of course, outlawed this behavior, but that didn't have do much to stop the practice. There was also another group of lesser-known "pseudo-flagellants" that went from town-to-town performing "physical acts" in public for a fee. The Church outlawed them, as well.