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Catharina Margaretha Linck executed for sodomy in Prussia
Linck, a transgendered person, was said to have married another woman, Catharina Margaretha Mühlhahn, who believed that Linck was male at the time of their marriage. Their sexual relationship was a matter of controversy and ended in Linck's execution for sodomy (there were no laws against lesbianism at the time) in her role as a male. Primary Source: image (shown) of Catharina Margaretha Linck as a woman, and then as a man (soldier)--Wurttemberg State Library, Sig Crim. R. qt. 136 -
Utrecht Sodomy Trials
The Utrecht sodomy trials were one of the largest mass-prosecutions of alleged sodomites in modern European history. The events of 1730-1731 led to approximately 250-300 trials. Primary Source: The Hellish Wickedness of the Horrible Sin of Sodomy, Henricus Carolinus van Bijler, 1731, a treatise on the sodomy as a persecutable sin. -
French Penal Code decriminalizes sodomy
The new French Penal Code was adopted during the French Revolution and was based on the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789). The Code stated that sodomy between consenting parties was a victimless crime. When the Napoleonic Code (1810), which continued this decriminalization, was adopted, sodomy was decriminalized in most of continental Europe as a consequence of the size of the Napoleonic Empire. Primary Source: CODE PÉNAL
Du 25 septembre – 6 octobre 1791. -
Rise of Sexology as a field of study
One of the first Sexologists, Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, is born in 1825. A homosexual himself, he published several booklets that attempted to make sense same-sex sexual behaviour and to reform the Prussian legal code. He is often seen as the pioneer of the gay rights movement. Primary Source: Ulrichs, "Araxes: a Call to Free the Nature of the Urning from Penal Law", 1870. -
Trial and Conviction of Oscar Wilde
Edward Sheley's testimony against WildeOn this day, a libellious note accusing Wilde of being a sodomite was left on his porch. When Wilde pressed charges for the accusation, it led to accusations of sodomy being held against him. Primary Source: The Testimony of Edward Shelley in the first trial, April 26-May 1 1895, the incriminating testiony leading to Wilde's sentencing. See link. -
Eulenberg Affair in Germany
In April 1907, journalist Maximillian Harden 'outs' Philipp, Prince of Eulenburg-Hertefeld and General Kuno, Graf von Moltke as being in a homosexual relationship. Subsequently, many members of Kaiser Wilhelm II's cabinet were accused of homosexuality, surrounding the Kaiser in high-profile controversy.Primary Source: Albert Weisberger cartoon, 1907. Pictured, displaying the royal coat of arms surrounded by amorous homosexual lovers.
