1212, France: In Paris the penalty for sodomy is fixed at death. This is the first secular law to criminalize sodomy since the Spanish Visagoth law of 654. It is the first to prescribe the death penalty.
1259 Bologna (Italy): punishment for sodomites set as burning at the stake, or perpetual banishment. (Gay Chronology from the Beginning of time to WWII)
1260, France: The Orleans code prescribed similar penalties for men and for women. For a man, on the first offence, he should lose his testicles, on the second, he should lose his male member, and on the third, he should be burned. For a woman, on the first two offences, she should lose “her member”, and on the third, be burned.
1265 Spain: The most important medieval compilation of Spanish law, Las Siete Partidas of Alfonso X, blamed natural disasters on sodomites, and prescribed the death penalty (Crompton, Gay Chronology)
1270 France: French penal code specifies, but only for a third offence: “He who has been proved to be a sodomite must lose his testicle. And if he does it a second time, he must lose his member, and if he does it a third time, he must be burned.” This is perhaps the first secular law to also regulate lesbian sexuality. (Gay Chronology)
1309 Perugia (Italy): mild penalties for sodomy are replaced with burning at the stake. (Gay Chronology)
1329, Padua (Italy): Death penalty introduced for sodomy. (Crompton)
1351, Carpi (Italy): Death penalty introduced for sodomy. (Crompton)
1363, Rome: Death penalty introduced for sodomy. (Crompton)
1387, Cremona (Italy): Death penalty introduced for sodomy. (Crompton)
1390, Lodi (Italy): Death penalty introduced for sodomy. (Crompton)
1446, Portugal: The Afonsine ordinances of Afonso V call for sodomites to be burned. (Greenberg)
1451 Rome: Previously a subject of the secular courts when dealing with laymen, or the ecclesiastical courts if the offender was a cleric, Sodomy becomes a subject of the papal Inquisition. (Gay Chronology)
1476, Milan: Death penalty introduced for sodomy. (Crompton)
1497, Spain: Ferdinand and Isabella specify burning at the stake, with the confiscation of property, which goes to the royal treasury. (Gay Chronology)
1507, Bamberg (Germany): The criminal code specifies a prohibition of sodomy. This is the first appearance of sodomy as a crime within German law, and includes sodomy of a woman with a woman. (Gay Chronology)
1510, Holy Roman Empire: Burning is prescribed for “unchastity contrary to nature” between two men, or between two women, or with an animal. (Greenberg)
1521, Brazil: Portugal extended its death penalty for male sodomites to include Brazil
1532 Germany: Constitution of Charles V, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, specifies burning as the prescribed punishment for sodomy. (Gay Chronology)
1533, England: The sodomy statute of Henry VIII is the first English law to mention homosexuality. (Greenberg states that this had less to do with a change in attitude to sexuality, than with Henry’s break with Rome, and taking over church authority. This statute later becomes the basis of American law as well. The penalty is specified as execution, but by hanging, not by burning. However, there are not many convictions at this time, and death sentences that are handed down, are often commuted to time in the pillory. (Gay Chronology)
1556, Genoa (Italy): Death penalty introduced for sodomy. (Crompton)
1563 Sweden: The Protestant King Erik XIV proclaims the death penalty for several crimes. The inclusion of sodomy is implied, but not explicit. No cases are brought to trial before the 17 th century.
1603, Brazil: Portugal extended its death penalty for male sodomites in Brazil to include lesbians.
1605, China: The Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci introduces Western attitudes towards homosexuality to China.
1608, Sweden: King Charles IX makes explicit in the penal law, the penalty of execution for sodomy.
1610, Virginia: Via a military regulation, outlaws sodomy with a penalty of death. Calendar of Sodomy, May
1636, Plymouth colony: Outlaws consensual sodomy with a penalty of death. (Calendar of Sodomy, November)
1642, Connecticut: Passes a law against sodomy, making its law based upon the Old Testament proscription in Leviticus. (Calendar of Sodomy, December)
1660 — In New Netherland Colony, J.Q. van der Linde, a married man, is tied into a sack and drowned for sodomy with an adolescent male. Three years later his widow files for bankruptcy. Calendar of Sodomy, May
1665 — After a temporary takeover of New Netherland by the English, the governor of what is now called New York issues a proclamation making sodomy a capital crime. The law also covers New Jersey. Calendar of Sodomy, March
1668 — New Jersey passes its own sodomy law, separate from that of New York, mandating the death penalty, and applicable only to males. Calendar of Sodomy, May
1671 — Plymouth Colony exempts males under 14 and forced parties from the death penalty for sodomy. Calendar of Sodomy, June
1674 — After the English take final control of what is now New York, the 1665 sodomy law takes effect. (Calendar of Sodomy, November)
1676 — Governor Edmond Andros of New York issues an order extending the 1665 sodomy law of New York into what now are Pennsylvania and Delaware. (Calendar of Sodomy, September)
1682 — Pennsylvania outlaws sodomy with a first-offense penalty of six months in jail, the first non-capital sodomy law in the English colonies. The law also covers what now is Delaware. (Calendar of Sodomy, December)
1691 — New York becomes a royal colony and the 1665 buggery law is replaced by the English buggery statute. Calendar of Sodomy, May
1697 — Massachusetts’ sodomy law refers to sodomy as “contrary to the very light of nature.” (Calendar of Sodomy, October)
1700 — Pennsylvania raises the penalty for sodomy to life imprisonment for whites and death for blacks. In addition, whites can be flogged every three months during the first year of confinement and, if married, castrated and automatically divorced.(Calendar of Sodomy, November)
1702 — East and West New Jersey are united into the colony of New Jersey and the English buggery statute is regarded as in force. Calendar of Sodomy, April
1704 — New Jersey dismisses all pending prosecutions for most crimes, including sodomy. (Calendar of Sodomy, December)
1706, Russia: Anew military legal code based on Sweden’s military code is the first Russian law to penalize consensual male homosexuality. It prescribes burning at the stake for sodomy, but is not known to have been enforced.
Just ten years later, in 1716, the death penalty is replaced with corporal punishment, except in cases of rape, or with violence.
1712 — South Carolina enacts a buggery statute with a sentence of death. (Calendar of Sodomy, December)
1715 — North Carolina adopts all laws of England, making the buggery statute operative. (Calendar of Sodomy, November)
1716, Netherlands: Dutch military law mandates capital punishment for “unnatural misuses.”
1718 — Pennsylvania reinstates the death penalty for sodomy. Calendar of Sodomy, May
1718, Pennsylvania : the death penalty is reimposed, for whites.
1718 — New Hampshire amends its sodomy law, adopting the 1697 Massachusetts law verbatim. Calendar of Sodomy, May
1740 China: The Manchu Qing government enacts a male rape law and for the first time in Chinese history outlaws sodomy between consenting males.
1749 — North Carolina adopts the English sodomy law explicitly. (Calendar of Sodomy, October)
1786 — Pennsylvania reduces the penalty for sodomy to a maximum of ten years in prison and requires forfeiture of estate and prohibits bail. (Calendar of Sodomy, September)
1787, Austria: Emperor Joseph II’s penal code revision reduces the penalty for homosexuality from death at the stake to life imprisonment.
1787 — New York, which has been operating under the English sodomy statute for nearly a century, passes its own law, retaining the death penalty. Calendar of Sodomy, February
1790, USA: Tennessee receives North Carolina law, including its capital sodomy law.
1791 — New Hampshire restricts its sodomy law to male-male acts only, and retains the death penalty. Calendar of Sodomy, February
1791, France: France becomes the first Western nation in the world to repeal its law against sodomy. The Code Penal requires only that homosexual behaviour, like heterosexual, takes place in private, between consenting adults.
1792 — Kentucky becomes a state and receives all laws of Virginia, which includes the reception of the English buggery statute with a penalty of death. Calendar of Sodomy, June
1792 — Virginia eliminates its reliance on the English buggery statute by passing its own statute that retains the death penalty. (Calendar of Sodomy, December)
1795, Belgium: With the French invasion of Belgium, and the adoption of the Code Penal, homosexual behavior is decriminalized.
1795 — The Legislative Council for the Northwest Territory enacts a law making English common law statutory throughout the territory. This criminalizes sodomy as a capital offense in what is now Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Calendar of Sodomy, July
1796 — New Jersey passes its first sodomy law in nearly a century and eliminates the death penalty. The maximum sentence is set at 21 years at solitary and hard labor. The law still applies only to males. Calendar of Sodomy, March
1796 — New York reduces the penalty for sodomy from death to ten years in prison. Calendar of Sodomy, March
1801 — Congress passes a criminal code for the District of Columbia by incorporating the laws of Maryland into that part of the District ceded by Maryland and the laws of Virginia into that part ceded by Virginia. Slaves in both portions get the death penalty, but free persons get imprisonment, and a flogging in the Maryland portion. Calendar of Sodomy, February
1801 — New York raises the maximum penalty for sodomy from 10 years to life imprisonment.
1804 — The Code Napoléon is introduced in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Monaco, maintaining the “hands-off” attitude of the government toward private, consensual sexual relations.
1805 — Massachusetts reduces the penalty for sodomy from death to 20 years, but retains the language making the law applicable only to two males. Calendar of Sodomy, March
1805 — Louisiana outlaws sodomy with a compulsory sentence of life imprisonment and hard labor. Calendar of Sodomy, May
1807 — The Indiana Territory enacts a criminal code, eliminating the 1795 common-law reception. The penalty for sodomy is a maximum 5 years in prison (the 3rd longest in the code), a $500 fine, and 500 lashes (the most in the code). It also contains a curious provision allowing the hiring out of persons convicted of certain crimes, including sodomy, as servants. This creates the possibility of “kept boys.” (Calendar of Sodomy, September)
1808 — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issues a report listing all English statutes in force in Pennsylvania. Neither the Henrican nor Elizabethan buggery law is listed, meaning that Pennsylvania will be dependent on its own sodomy statute to authorize prosecutions. (Calendar of Sodomy, December)
1809, Netherlands: The criminal code for Holland sets the maximum sentence for sodomy at life imprisonment.
1812 — New Hampshire reduces the penalty for sodomy from death to 10 years. Calendar of Sodomy, June
1812 — The Organic Act for the Missouri Territory receives the 1805 Louisiana sodomy statute, with a compulsory sentence of life imprisonment at hard labor. Calendar of Sodomy, June
1816 — The Michigan Territory adopts a new criminal code that outlaws sodomy with a penalty of up to 21 years at solitary and hard labor and a fine. (Calendar of Sodomy, November)
1816 — Georgia adopts a new criminal code, reinstating sodomy as a crime after a 32-year hiatus. The penalty is compulsory life imprisonment. The law is not enforced. (Calendar of Sodomy, December)
1817 — Georgia reenacts its 1816 criminal code with an identical sodomy law, and this code is enforced. (Calendar of Sodomy, December)
1822 — Florida recognizes common-law and English statutory crimes, thus apparently making sodomy a capital crime. (Calendar of Sodomy, September)
1822 Spain: The death penalty for Sodomy is eliminated.
1826 — Delaware lowers the penalty for sodomy from death to 60 lashes given publicly, a $1,000 fine, and three years of solitary confinement in prison. Calendar of Sodomy, February
1828 — Florida repeals its common-law reception statute, thus legalizing sodomy.(Calendar of Sodomy, November)
1828 — New York lowers the penalty for sodomy from life imprisonment to a maximum of ten years. (Calendar of Sodomy, December)
1831 — A new criminal code in Indiana repeals the state’s sodomy law, but retains the common-law crimes reception statute. This makes sodomy a capital offense again. Calendar of Sodomy, February
1833 — Georgia changes the wording of its sodomy law to read “man with man or in the same unnatural manner with woman,” thus eliminating the possibility of Lesbians being prosecuted. The penalty of life imprisonment is retained. (Calendar of Sodomy, December)
1835 — Massachusetts makes its “crime against nature” law gender-neutral, but retains the severe 20-years-in-prison penalty. (Calendar of Sodomy, November)
1835 — John Smith and James Pratt are hanged in London for “unnatural crime.” Calendar of Sodomy, April
1836 — Texas adopts the common law of England, making sodomy a capital offense. (Calendar of Sodomy, December)
1840 — Maine makes its sodomy law gender-neutral. (Calendar of Sodomy, October)
1842 — Florida passes a sodomy law with a mandatory sentence of death. Calendar of Sodomy, March
1840 — The Iowa Territory abrogates all English laws and all laws it received from the Michigan and Wisconsin Territories, thus legalizing sodomy. Calendar of Sodomy, July
1843 — Oregon adopts the “Blue Book,” a code of laws based on the Iowa Territory Code of 1838. This includes the Michigan law of 1820 adopted by Wisconsin, then was adopted by Iowa. This is despite Oregon’s non-legal status. Calendar of Sodomy, July
1845 — Illinois raises the maximum penalty for sodomy from 10 years to life imprisonment. (Calendar of Sodomy, September)
1848 — Virginia changes the penalty for sodomy to 1-5 years for free persons and keeps the death penalty for slaves. Calendar of Sodomy, March
1850 — Hawaii, under influence of Christian missionaries, outlaws sodomy with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Calendar of Sodomy, June
1851 — The Prussian criminal code makes sodomy male-male only, but eliminates the death penalty. Calendar of Sodomy, April
1851 — The New Mexico Territory adopts English common-law crimes, making death for sodomy possible. Calendar of Sodomy, July
1851 — Minnesota passes its own sodomy law that does not change the penalty and abrogates common-law crimes. (Calendar of Sodomy, September)
1852 Austria: Penal code revision criminalizes lesbianism, while reducing the penalties for male homosexuals.
1854 — Texas amends its common-law reception statute to create specific penalties for common-law crimes, thus eliminating the death penalty for sodomy. Calendar of Sodomy, February
1855 — Nebraska passes a criminal code, receiving all of the laws of Iowa, which does not have a sodomy law, but also adopting all English common-law crimes, making sodomy a capital offense in the territory. Calendar of Sodomy, March
1860 — Virginia’s new sodomy law eliminates death for slaves, equalizing the penalty for all persons. Calendar of Sodomy, March
1861 England:The penalty for buggery is reduced from a capital offense to 10 years to life.
1861 — North Carolina amends its sodomy law to eliminate the need to prove emission of semen, but retains the death penalty. Calendar of Sodomy, February
1861 — The death penalty for sodomy is eliminated in England and Wales, with the penalty reduced to life imprisonment. This action also eliminates the death penalty for sodomy in New Mexico and Vermont, since they operate off the English common law. (Calendar of Sodomy, August)
1861 — Colorado passes its first criminal code and makes sodomy a crime with a compulsory sentence of life imprisonment. (Calendar of Sodomy, November)
1861 — Nevada recognizes common-law crimes, making sodomy a crime with a compulsory sentence of life imprisonment. (Calendar of Sodomy, October)
1861 — Nevada passes its first criminal code and retains the life sentence for sodomy.(Calendar of Sodomy, November)
1864 Sweden: New penal code reduces penalty for “fornication against nature” to hard labor in prison up to two years.
1864 — Idaho outlaws sodomy with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Calendar of Sodomy, February
1864 — A trial court in Utah dismisses the sodomy charge against a man because Utah has no sodomy law. Later that day, the man, Frederick Jones, is murdered (apparently by his partner’s father) but the murderer is released due to a lack of witnesses. (Calendar of Sodomy, October)
1864 — Arkansas revises its sodomy law to mandate the death penalty for all persons. (Calendar of Sodomy, October)
1864 — Arizona enacts its first sodomy law, going off the common-law crimes statute, and retains a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. (Calendar of Sodomy, October)
1866 Denmark: The death penalty for sodomy is reduced to imprisonment.
1868 — The Wyoming Territory is organized by Congress and receives the criminal laws of the Dakota Territory, making sodomy punishable by a compulsory sentence of life imprisonment. Calendar of Sodomy, July
1868 — Florida reduces the penalty for sodomy from death to 20 years.(Calendar of Sodomy, August)
1868 — North Carolina reduces the penalty for sodomy from death to 20-60 years.(Calendar of Sodomy, August)
1869 — Canada outlaws buggery with a term of 2 years to life. Calendar of Sodomy, June
1869 — North Carolina reduces the penalty for sodomy from 20-60 years to 5-60 years. Calendar of Sodomy, April
1869 — South Carolina abolishes the death penalty for sodomy, but fails to include a new penalty Calendar of Sodomy, February
1871 Prussia: The Reichstag adopts a new penal code including Paragragh 175 which criminalized male homosexuality.
1872 Germany:- With the unification of Germany the Prussian Penal Codes crimialization of homosexual acts is extended to all parts of Germany.
1873 — Arkansas lowers the penalty for sodomy from death to 5-21 years. This is the last death law for sodomy in the nation. (Calendar of Sodomy, August)
1874 — Illinois reduces the penalty for sodomy from life to a maximum of 10 years in prison. Calendar of Sodomy, April
1875 — Washington Territory enacts a vagrancy law covering “disorderly persons.” Since there is no sodomy law in the territory, this is the only law that can cover acts of sodomy(Calendar of Sodomy, November)
1876 — New Mexico passes a sodomy law with a penalty of up to life imprisonment. Prior to this, it had relied on the English common law. Calendar of Sodomy, January
1876 — Utah outlaws sodomy.(Calendar of Sodomy, November)
1881 — Washington recognizes common-law crimes, making sodomy a crime. (Calendar of Sodomy, December)
1884 — Congress passes a law extending all laws of Oregon to the Alaska Territory, including Oregon’s sodomy law. For the preceding 22 years, Alaska had no criminal laws whatsoever. Calendar of Sodomy, May
1886 — Mormon Bishop Thomas Taylor is removed from his position in Salt Lake City because of his sexual relations with other males. Calendar of Sodomy, July
1886 Netherlands: The new criminal code of 1886 provides no penalty for same sex behavior, and sets the age of consent at 14.
1889 Italy: The Italian Penal Code, like the Code Napoleon, is silent on the subject of homosexual sex.
1890 — The Oklahoma Territory is organized and it receives all the laws of Nebraska, including its sodomy law with a penalty of one year-life. Calendar of Sodomy, May
1890 — Wyoming amends its sodomy law to prohibit fellatio, but not cunnilingus. The maximum penalty for sodomy also is reduced from life to 5 years. Calendar of Sodomy, March
1890 — Wyoming amends its sodomy law to prohibit fellatio, but not cunnilingus. The maximum penalty for sodomy also is reduced from life to 5 years. Calendar of Sodomy, March
1893 — The West Virginia Supreme Court rules that repeal of a statute in derogation of the common law revives the common-law provision. Since the state recognizes common-law crimes, this means that repeal of the sodomy law will not legalize consensual sodomy. [November]
1896 — Louisiana becomes the ninth state to outlaw oral sex. The statute, ironically Act 69 of the term, also eliminates life imprisonment as the penalty. Calendar of Sodomy, July
1897 — The District of Columbia Court of Appeals rules that common-law crimes are recognized in the District, even without a statute receiving them. This effectively reinstates sodomy as a crime, since there is no sodomy statute under District law, and makes sodomy a crime throughout the United States.(Calendar of Sodomy, November)
1899 — American Samoa is obtained by the United States. It has no law against sodomy, making it the only “free” jurisdiction in the United States. (Calendar of Sodomy, December)
1909 — Connecticut reduces the penalty for sodomy from a compulsory life sentence to a maximum of 30 years in prison. Calendar of Sodomy, May
1910 — The Maine Supreme Court rules that there are no common-law crimes in the state. (Calendar of Sodomy, October)
1917 — A Georgia appellate court rules that cunnilingus performed by a male violates the state’s sodomy law.(Calendar of Sodomy, November)
1917 — Russia decriminalizes sodomy by repealing its entire criminal code. (Calendar of Sodomy, December)
1919 — The New Mexico Supreme Court rules that repeal of a statute in derogation of the common law revives the common-law provision. Since the state recognizes common-law crimes, this means that repeal of the sodomy law will not legalize consensual sodomy. (Calendar of Sodomy, October)
1939 — Colorado outlaws oral sex, more than 11 years after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that fellatio was not a “crime against nature.” It also lowers the maximum penalty from life to 14 years. Calendar of Sodomy, April
1940 — Nazi occupation of the Netherlands extends the German sodomy law there. Calendar of Sodomy, July
1942 — The West Virginia Supreme Court upholds the sodomy conviction and life sentence of a man under the state’s habitual offender law. Calendar of Sodomy, June
1949 — Georgia reduces the penalty for sodomy from compulsory life imprisonment to 1-10 years. Calendar of Sodomy, February
1950 — Congress enacts a home rule law for Guam that retains all the extant Naval laws, including the consensual sodomy law.(Calendar of Sodomy, August)
1950 — The Georgia Supreme Court upholds a life sentence for sodomy handed down on a retrial after the first conviction had been overturned, and after the sodomy law’s life imprisonment penalty had been repealed. Calendar of Sodomy, June
1952 — California eliminates the maximum penalty for sodomy, allowing life imprisonment. Calendar of Sodomy, April
1954 — The Missouri Supreme Court upholds a life sentence for sodomy. Calendar of Sodomy, May
1956 — England reduces the penalty for sodomy from life to 2 years if above the age of consent. Since Vermont operates off English law, this also reduces the penalty in Vermont.(Calendar of Sodomy, August)
1957 — The Wolfenden Commission in England recommends the decriminalization of private, consensual sodomy.(Calendar of Sodomy, August)
1957 — The Church of England Assembly endorses the Wolfenden Report that recommended decriminalizing consensual sodomy. (Calendar of Sodomy, November)
1958 — The West Virginia Supreme Court overturns a life sentence for sodomy (because the defendant had not been confronted with previous sodomy convictions during trial.) Calendar of Sodomy, June
1958 — The British House of Commons debates, but shelves, the Wolfenden Report.(Calendar of Sodomy, November)
1963 — Colorado repeals its ban on voting by anyone convicted of sodomy. Calendar of Sodomy, April
1967 — Nevada lowers its penalty for the “crime against nature” from 1 year-life to 1-6 years. Calendar of Sodomy, April
1961 — Illinois is the first state to repeal its sodomy law, adopting the recommendations of the American Law Institute. However, it includes the ALI’s recommendation of a law against loitering for “deviate” purposes, but not for “non-deviate” purposes. Calendar of Sodomy, July
1967 — Ten years after the Wolfenden Commission recommended it, the English Parliament repeals the laws against sodomy and “gross indecency.” Member of Parliament Margaret Thatcher is one who votes “no.” Calendar of Sodomy, July
1968 — A Pennsylvania appellate court upholds the sodomy conviction of a man after the trial court excluded testimony from a psychiatrist and the defendant’s girlfriend that was favorable to him. (Calendar of Sodomy, August)
1969 — Connecticut becomes the second state to repeal its consensual sodomy law. Calendar of Sodomy, July
1969 — West Germany repeals its sodomy law. Calendar of Sodomy, May
1970 — The Oregon Court of Appeals overturns the sodomy conviction of a man who pleaded guilty with the understanding that the maximum sentence was 15 years in prison, but who received a life sentence under the indeterminate sentencing law. Calendar of Sodomy, April
1971 — Colorado passes a new criminal code repealing the state’s sodomy law. Calendar of Sodomy, June
1971 — Oregon becomes the fourth state to decriminalize sodomy, with the passage of its new criminal code. Calendar of Sodomy, July
1971 — Austria repeals its sodomy law. Calendar of Sodomy, July
1972 — Delaware passes a new criminal code, becoming the sixth state to repeal its sodomy law. Calendar of Sodomy, July
1972 — Idaho reenacts its entire pre-1971 criminal code, reinstating common-law crimes and the sodomy law with a penalty of up to life imprisonment. Calendar of Sodomy, April
1972 — The Maryland Commission on Criminal Law publishes a proposed criminal code that recommends decriminalization of consensual sodomy with an age of consent of 19. Calendar of Sodomy, June
1972 — Ohio passes a new criminal code that makes it the seventh state to legalize sodomy, the first to have gender-neutral sexual assault laws, and the only state to legalize many forms of incest, such as between two brothers, two sisters, or cousins of the same sex. (Calendar of Sodomy, December)
1973 — Montana passes a new criminal code and keeps sodomy as a felony, but makes the act criminal only between persons of the same sex. The maximum penalty is reduced from life to 10 years. Calendar of Sodomy, April
1974 — The District of Columbia Court of Appeals strikes down a law prohibiting commission of a “lewd, obscene and indecent act” Calendar of Sodomy, May
1975 — Maine passes a new criminal code and repeals its sodomy law. Calendar of Sodomy, June
1975 — Washington passes a new criminal code and repeals its sodomy law. Calendar of Sodomy, June
1975 — New Hampshire passes a new sexual assault law and includes a repeal of the consensual sodomy law that is not noticed for a year after passage. Calendar of Sodomy, June
1976 — Iowa passes a new criminal code that includes repeal of its sodomy law. Calendar of Sodomy, June
1977 — Nebraska passes a new criminal code over the veto of the Governor that includes repeal of the state’s sodomy law. Calendar of Sodomy, June
1977 — The Michigan Department of Civil Rights makes a recommendation to repeal the state’s sodomy and gross indecency laws.(Calendar of Sodomy, August)
1978 — A Tennessee judge dismisses charges against four Gay men, claiming that the 1977 sexual assault reform law repealed the crime against nature law by implication. (Calendar of Sodomy, December)
1978 — New Jersey passes a new criminal code that repeals that state’s sodomy law.(Calendar of Sodomy, August)
1978 — Alaska passes a new criminal code repealing that state’s sodomy law. Calendar of Sodomy, June
1979 — American Samoa passes a new criminal code that repeals its sodomy law and sets an age of consent of 15. Calendar of Sodomy, July
1981 — Under intense pressure from Moral Majority and other right-wing groups, the U.S. House of Representatives vetoes the new sex offenses law passed by the District of Columbia council, which includes repeal of the sodomy law. This is the first time that a District law that does not violate federal supremacy is vetoed. (Calendar of Sodomy, October)
1983 — Wisconsin repeals its sodomy law. Calendar of Sodomy, May
1984 — The U.S. Virgin Islands repeals its sodomy law. (Calendar of Sodomy, October)
1990 — Hong Kong repeals its sodomy law. Calendar of Sodomy, July
1990 — The Isle of Jersey repeals its sodomy law. Calendar of Sodomy, July
1990 — A Michigan trial court strikes down the state’s sodomy and gross indecency laws and the state does not appeal. The case is from Detroit, but courts outside of Wayne County do not see the decision as binding on them. Calendar of Sodomy, July
1993 — The District of Columbia repeals its sodomy law. Calendar of Sodomy, May
1993 — Nevada repeals its same-sex-only sodomy law. Calendar of Sodomy, June
1997 — The Montana Supreme Court strikes down the state’s felony sodomy law. The law applies only to people of the same sex. Calendar of Sodomy, July
1997 — San Marino, one of the last holdouts in Europe on the issue, repeals its law against sodomy by a vote of 28-21. Calendar of Sodomy, July
1998 — Rhode Island repeals its sodomy law. Calendar of Sodomy, June
1998 — The South African Supreme Court strikes down that country’s law against sex between men. Calendar of Sodomy, May
1998 — The South African Constitutional Court strikes down the country’s sodomy law under the new constitution. (Calendar of Sodomy, October)
2001 — Arizona repeals its sodomy law. Calendar of Sodomy, May
2001 — A Minnesota judge certifies the entire state population as plaintiffs in a challenge to the state sodomy law. Already having invalidated it, this makes the ruling apply statewide. (Calendar of Sodomy, July)
2001 — Romania repeals its sodomy law. (Calendar of Sodomy, December)
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