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. If a woman, by cutting thro' the cartilage of her nose a hole of one half inch diameter at the least, " but this also did not become law. In 1779, Thomas Jefferson proposed a law stating that, "Whosoever shall be guilty of rape, polygamy, or sodomy with man or woman shall be punished, if a man, by castration. It would have read, "Unnatural filthiness, to be punished with death, whether sodomy, which is carnal fellowship of man with man, or woman with woman, or buggery, which is carnal fellowship of man or woman with beasts or fowls." In 1655, the Connecticut Colony passed a law against sodomy between women (as well as between men), but nothing came of this either. In 1636, John Cotton proposed a law for Massachusetts Bay making sex between two women (or two men) a capital offense, but the law was not enacted. Laws against lesbian sexual activity were suggested but usually not created or enforced in early American history. Nineteenth century lesbians like Cushman presented themselves publicly as close friends with their romantic partners. Lesbian actress Charlotte Cushman, (left) as Romeo, with her sister Susan as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet in 1846.
3.11 1990s: Victories and political power.3.9 1970s–80s: Challenge to white feminists by lesbians of color.3.8 1970s–80s Lesbian/feminist sex wars.3.7 1970s Conflict between some lesbian feminists and transgender women.3.4 1950s–70s Rise of the LGBT rights movement.3.3 1950s: Legal restrictions on gays and lesbians.