Advent 3

Do you wish Christmas was banned? Join the Puritan Club - the party-pooper kings. Though their intentions may have been sound their enthusiasm went against them. Under the Puritanical Oliver Cromwell, Christmas (including parties, games and mince pies) was illegal. In fact, anything that smacked of something the Catholics and Royalists supported was opposed by Cromwell.

The name Cromwell has appeared before in this blog: Oliver was greatnephew of Thomas. One Cromwell outlaws gay sex and the other outlaws Christmas - the family doesn't appeal to me very much!

Oliver Cromwell took a political road to enforce his Puritanism, but originally the Puritans wanted to worship simply without persecution. The Anglicans said they should worship the Anglican way or go to jail. Even death threats were made. The Catholics had been through all of this before, but this time the Puritans had an escape route - America.

Nottinghamshire is proud to be the home of the Pilgrim Fathers. These Bassetlaw Puritans worshipped in private and decided to found a new community in America. So, in 1620 they set sail with their followers on the Mayflower. Hundreds joined them over the next decades.

They took their Puritan beliefs with them. And the statute of 1534 which criminalised "active" gay sex. Plymouth colony introduced its own sodomy laws with the death penalty. In 1634 John Allexander and Thomas Roberts were found guilty of "lewd behaviour ... and spending their seed upon another". Because no penetration was proved they escaped hanging and were whipped. And in 1642 Elizabeth Johnson was found guilty of "unseemly behaviour" with a maid.

As the American colonies developed into the United States, same-sex activity became less of an issue so that, eventually, gay communities developed in places like San Francisco long before anywhere else in the world.

To return to Nottinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage click on www.nottsrainbowheritage.org.uk