Lesbian American History - 1600 To 1899

1600 To 1899

Laws against lesbian sexual activity were suggested but mostly not created or enforced in early American history. In 1636, John Cotton proposed a law for Massachusetts Bay making sex between two women (or two men) a capital offense, but the law was not enacted. It would have read, "Unnatural filthiness, to be punished with death, whether sodomy, which is carnal fellowship of man with man, or woman with woman, or buggery, which is carnal fellowship of man or woman with beasts or fowls ". In 1655, the Connecticut Colony passed a law against sodomy between women (as well as between men), but nothing came of this either. In 1779, Thomas Jefferson proposed a law stating that, "Whosoever shall be guilty of rape, polygamy, or sodomy with man or woman shall be punished, if a man, by castration, if a woman, by cutting thro' the cartilage of her nose a hole of one half inch diameter at the least, " but this also did not become law. However, in 1649 in Plymouth Colony, Sarah White Norman and Mary Vincent Hammon were prosecuted for "lewd behavior with each other upon a bed"; their trial documents are the only known record of sex between female English colonists in North America in the 17th century. Mary was only admonished, perhaps because she was younger than sixteen, but in 1650 Sarah Norman was convicted and required to acknowledge publicly her "unchaste behavior" with Mary Hammon, as well as warned against future offenses. This may be the only conviction for lesbianism in American history.

In the 19th century lesbians were only accepted if they hid their sexual orientation and were presumed to be merely friends with their partners. For example, the term "Boston Marriage" was used to describe a committed relationship between two unmarried women who were usually financially independent and often shared a house; these relationships were presumed to be asexual, and hence the women were respected as "spinsters" by their communities. Notable women in Boston Marriages included Sarah Jewett and Annie Adams Fields, as well as Jane Addams and Mary Rozet Smith. However, in the 19th century openly lesbian women were thought to be mentally ill. Those admitted to insane asylums often faced forced marriages. While in asylums, furthermore, they were subject to being sexually abused and raped under the care of their physicians in the belief that sexual encounters with men would "cure" them.