jan 1, 1851 - First Sodomy Law [Part 15]

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The first law to address sodomy in Utah was written in 1851. The criminal code specifically prohibited any “man or boy” from engaging in, or attempting to engage in, “any sexual intercourse with any of the male creation.” (Laws and Ordinances 1919)

The 1851 law was found to be unenforceable and the new 1852 code removed the 1851 sodomy language. Because sodomy was no longer mentioned in the territorial law, it was thereby legal in the Utah Territory.

Early Utah records suggest a religious stigma attached to homosexuality (buggery/sodomy) throughout the Utah Territory—even though the government of the territory showed no further interest in outlawing it.

Females (lesbians) were not held to the same standard enforced against men regarding the original sodomy law—especially in religious circles.

As an example: in 1856 a married woman from Salt Lake City was publicly accused of trying to seduce the daughter of a local man but no charges were ever brought against her. However, only a year later, a man was brought before the law and his church leaders, the man was castrated for a “sexual crime”.

The government (which was also run by Latter-day Saint Church leaders) did not enforce new sodomy laws, but the Church of Jesus Christ began to mete out penalties of their own.

From 1857 to 1859 there were at least three castrations sanctioned while Brigham Young, the president of the Church. In February of 1876 the Utah territory legislature enacted laws
that once again criminalized sodomy—defined as anal sex. If found guilty, the penalty was 10 years imprisonment.

-Chuck Stewart
“Proud Heritage: People, Issues, and Documents of the LGBT Experience”
p. 1200

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