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A Comprehensive Queer History Timeline of the United States
As inclusive as I can make it.
Why even undertake a listing of notable U.S. Queer events from the 1600s until today? Because I believe knowledge is power and that facts must never be erased from history. So here, for anyone to see, is a timeline, as complete as I can make it.
If you can use this knowledge, I am very glad. If you have events to add, please tell me about them in the comments section!
1600s
1610
The Colony of Virginia enacted a military order criminalizing male sodomy, making it punishable by death. This order ended later that same year when martial law was terminated upon the change in control of the Virginia Colony.
1624
Richard Williams Cornish of the Virginia Colony was tried and hanged for sodomy.
1642
The Connecticut Colony passed a law against sodomy, which included a punishment for lesbian intercourse.
1648
The first known prosecution for lesbian activity in North America occurred in March when Sarah White Norman was charged with “Lewd behaviour with each other upon a bed” with Mary Vincent Hammon in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Hammon was…
