New Hampshire’s state motto may be “Live Free or Die” but that wasn’t always the case.

March 16, 1680:

Legislators of New Hampshire pass the colony’s first capital laws against homosexuality copied almost word for word from the Plymouth laws of 1671:

If any man lie with mankind as he lies with a woman; both of them have committed abomination; They both shall surely be put to death: unless one party were forced, or were under fourteen years of age. And all other Sodomitical filthiness shall be severely punished according to the nature of it.”

In the early Puritan colonies, the mere concept of homosexuality struck horror into the hearts of good, God-fearing men. Many thought that homosexuality was an impurity that could spread and eventually call down the fire and brimstone that was showered on Sodom and Gomorrah.

Although the laws demanded capital punishment as the penalty for adult homosexuality, many magistrates opted to hand down lighter sentences in most cases. In fact, there was only one recorded execution of a criminal of this sort. William Plaine was executed in New Haven in 1646 for the “uncleane practices” of teaching other men and boys the joys of masturbation. He was also charged with Witchcraft.

The state of New Hampshire has never apologized for the misery and deaths that occurred during this time.