Colonial America: The Age of Sodomitical Sin, 1607-1783, by Jonathan Ned Katz

The years from 1607 to 1783 constitute the founding era of what became the United States. In the early years of this era, in these American colonies, the penalty for sodomy was death, and a number of executions are documented. Sodomy was usually conceived of then as anal intercourse between men. But why was sodomy thought of as treason against the state and punished so harshly? And what do we know of sexual and intimate relationships between women in these years, and the laws and responses to such intimacies? This feature presents or references the original documents that Jonathan Ned Katz collected in his books Gay American History (1976) and Gay/Lesbian Almanac (1983), along with evidence that others subsequently discovered. Published originally on OutHistory in 2012.

Sodomy Case: New Hampshire, February 14, 1635

"Two men . . . committed sodomy"

The papers of the Province of New Hampshire, settled in 1623, include a report:

Capt. Wiggin, Governor of Pascutaquack, under Lord Say and Brook wrote to our governor, desiring to have two men tried here, who had committed sodomy with each other and that on the Lord's day in time of public exercise. The governor and divers of the assistants met and conferred about it but did not think it fit to try them here.(1)

References

Jonathan Ned Katz, Gay/Lesbian Almanac (NY: Harper & Row, 1983), p. 73, citing Nathaniel Bouton, ed., Provincial Papers: Documents and Records Relating to the Province of New Hampshire, from the Earliest Period of its Settlement: 1623-1687 (Concord, N.H.: G. E. Jenks, 1867), vol. I, p. 106.