Buggery Law: New York, 1691

Death for "buggery"

After the Glorious Revolution in England, in 1691, New York became a royal province. From that year the English "buggery" law (providing death for the crime) was apparently regarded as in effect.(1)

On February 14, 1787, New York passed a new law explicitly mandating death for "buggery."(2)

The death penalty for the crime was abolished in New York in 1796.

 

References

  1. Jonathan Ned Katz, Gay/Lesbian Almanac (NY: Harper & Row, 1983), p. 121, citing Crompton, "Homosexuals," p. 282.
  2. Laws of the State of New-York, Comprising The Constitution and The Acts of the Legislature Since the Revolution from the First to the Twelfth Session, Inclusive (Hanover: Hugh Gaine, 1789), vol. 2, p. 45.