History of lesbianism in the United States

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 during the 17th century.

[14] Notable women in Boston marriages included Sarah Jewett and Annie Adams Fields,[15][better source needed] as well as Jane Addams and Mary Rozet Smith.

[16][better source needed] Some American lesbians in the arts moved in the 19th century from the United States to Rome, including the actress Charlotte Cushman,[17] and sculptors Emma Stebbins[18] and Harriet Hosmer.

Margaret Otis published "A Perversion Not Commonly Noted" in the 1913 Journal of Psychology, coupling a decidedly Puritanical moral foundation with an almost revolutionary sympathy for lesbian relationships; her focus revolved more around her revulsion for sexual contact between those of different ethnic backgrounds, yet offered an almost radical tolerance of the lesbian relations themselves, as Otis noted, "Sometimes the love (of one young woman for another) is very real and seems almost ennobling".

So wrote O'Hare: "...A thorough education in sex perversions is part of the educational system of most prisons, and for the most part the underkeepers [sic] and the stool pigeons are very efficient teachers..." O'Hare then recounted a systematic induction of women into a cycle of forced prostitution to which authorities turned a blind eye: "...there seems to be considerable ground for the commonly accepted belief of the prison inmates that much of its graft and profits may percolate upward to the under officials...the...stool pigeon...handled the vices so rampant in the prison...she, in fact, held the power of life and death over us, by being able to secure endless punishments in the blind, she could and did compel indulgence in this vice in order that its profits might be secured".

[27][28][29]: 66  In the study most of the subjects (many of whom had Mormon background)[30][31][32] reported experiencing erotic interest in others of the same sex since childhood,[26]: 120, 222  and exhibited self-identity and community identity[33] as sexual minorities.

Both Barnes and Gertrude Stein were visitors to another influential Parisian salon hosted by American expatriate Nathalie Barney, as was sculptor Thelma Wood, photographer Berenice Abbott and painter Romaine Brooks.

[43] In an opinion issued on February 19, 1929, Magistrate Hyman Bushel declined to take the book's literary qualities into account and said The Well was "calculated to deprave and corrupt minds open to its immoral influences".

Pulp novels were a double-edged sword for young lesbian women, as they perpetuated homophobic ideas but allowed for a silent culture to be seen by others in the public as well as read stories about themselves.

The Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) was founded in San Francisco in 1955 by four female couples (including Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon) and was the first national lesbian political and social organization in the United States.

[70] Del Martin became DOB's first president, and Phyllis Lyon became the editor of the organization's monthly lesbian magazine, The Ladder, which was launched in October 1956 and continued until 1972, having reached print runs of almost 3,800 copies.

The first public protests for equal rights for gay and lesbian people were staged at governmental offices and historic landmarks in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., between 1965 and 1969.

[89] According to an article in the program for the first San Francisco pride march, she was one of the first four members of the Gay Liberation Front, the others being Michael Brown, Jerry Hoose, and Jim Owles.

'"[99] She refused to wear a purple armband or self-identify as a lesbian as an act of political solidarity, considering it not part of the mainstream issues of abortion and child care.

Yes, I suppose you have to say that freedom of sexual choice is part of that, but it shouldn't be the main issue ...."[101] Friedan eventually admitted that "the whole idea of homosexuality made me profoundly uneasy.

State legislatures should enact legislation that would prohibit consideration of sexual or affectional orientation as a factor in any judicial determination of child custody or visitation rights.

[107] Some key American lesbian feminist thinkers and activists are Charlotte Bunch, Rita Mae Brown, Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, Marilyn Frye, and Mary Daly.

The delegates passed a resolution in favor of women's liberation, but Del Martin felt they had not done enough, and wrote "If That's All There Is", an influential 1970 essay in which she decried gay rights organizations as sexist.

[164] The Combahee River Collective Statement made legible the concerns of Black women-loving women who felt as though they were being ignored by mainstream feminists and the civil rights movement.

[228][229] Also in that year, the Suquamish tribe of Washington state adopted a law proposed by a young lesbian tribal member (Heather Purser) recognizing same-sex marriage.

[270] Colorado's Supreme Court ordered the Denver county clerk to stop issuing marriage licenses to gay couples while the state's ban against the unions was in place.

[272][273] Later that year the Colorado Supreme Court ordered Boulder County clerk Hillary Hall to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses.

[311] In January 2015, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in Tallahassee ruled that all clerks in the state were required under the Constitution to issue marriage licenses to all same-sex couples.

[322] Later that month Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant became the first same-sex couple married in Texas, after their marriage license was issued in response to a district judge's order in Travis County because one of the women had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

[334] Finally, on June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court ruled by a 5-to-4 vote in Obergefell v. Hodges that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage, legalizing it throughout the United States.

[343][344][345][346][347] Also, in 2014, President Obama signed Executive Order 13672 adding both "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to the categories protected against discrimination in employment and hiring on the part of federal government contractors and sub-contractors.

In Season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003), the relationship between Willow Rosenberg and Tara Maclay's became one of the first prominent portrayals of a lesbian couple on American primetime television.

In 2016, The CW's series The 100 sparked outrage amongst fans after it killed off one of its lead characters Lexa, a powerful leader and established lesbian, soon after confirming her relationship with protagonist Clarke Griffin.

[376] On June 11, 2016, Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, was hosting Latin Night, a weekly Saturday-night event drawing a primarily Hispanic crowd.

[384][385] The FBI identified the deceased gunman as Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, a 29-year-old American citizen born in New York to Afghani parents, and living in Port St. Lucie, Florida.