#buggery

Alex Bollinger at LGBTQ Nation:

Saint Lucia’s law banning homosexuality has been declared unconstitutional in a historic ruling by the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. “This decision is deeply personal. For many years, we’ve worked to see the rights, lives, and dignity of LGBTQ+ persons in Saint Lucia and the OECS protected,” said Kenita Placide, executive director of Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE), an LGBTQ+ organization in the Caribbean. “Today’s ruling is not just a win in the courts, it also represents a step towards justice for the many lives lost to violence simply for being themselves. It signals that our Caribbean can and must be a place where all people are free and equal under the law.” At issue were the Caribbean island nation’s gross indecency and buggery laws, sections 132 and 133 of the Criminal Code of Saint Lucia, which criminalize same-sex relations even in private. Under each of those laws, consensual male homosexuality could be punished with up to ten years’ imprisonment. Even attempting to “commit buggery” could be met with a sentence of five years.

Saint Lucia is the latest Caribbean nation to have their colonial-era anti-LGBTQ+ "buggery" law struck down.

See Also:

Bugger All!

During the Great War, Ernest Thesiger injured his hand in an explosion. When he was evacuated back to England, his close friend William Ranken suggested he do needlework to help relieve the pain. It worked so Thesiger developed small sewing kit for other soldiers with similarly injures.

Thesiger was convinced the needlework could improve injured men's morale and earn them some money. The Ministry of Pensions declared it “too effeminate an occupation for men” but Thesiger’s idea was effective. His needlework actually gained Thesiger commissions, including an altar frontal for Buckingham Palace.

At the end of the war, Ernest Thesiger married Janette Ranken, William’s sister. A friend wrote afterwards that Thesiger and Janette did so because they both adored William. One sources says Thesiger and William were lovers.

Various sources also mention that Thesiger was open about being a homosexual. He was also said to paint his toenails green, and wear a string of pearls - and show them both off at dinner parties.

After the war, Thesiger worked primarily on stage. George Bernard Shaw wrote the role of the Dauphin (Charles VII of France) in his 1923 production of “Saint Joan” for him. Two years later he appeared in drag in Noël Coward's “On with the Dance”.

Thesiger had become friends with director James Whale years earlier. When Whale later moved to Hollywood, he remembered Thesiger’s success with campy roles so he cast him in "The Old Dark House" (1932) opposite horror Boris Karloff.

For Whale’s 1935 production of “The Bride of Frankenstein”, Universal Studios wanted him to cast Claude Rains in the role of Dr. Septimus Pretorius. But Whales insisted on Thesiger and he won out.

Thesiger is absolutely delightful as the odd and macabre scientist. He seems just as home with the cadavers in the graveyard as Karloff’s man-made creature. Pretorius is inspired by Dr. John Polidori, a friend of “Frankenstein” author Mary Shelley.

Thesiger had a number of friends who were later revealed as gay, including James Whale, Cole Poter, Noel Cowards, and lesbian Vita Sackville-West. Despite his marriage, Thesiger himself was said to be open about his sexuality. He regularly left white lilies for a doorman at the Savoy he had a crush on.

And one of the more outrageous stories describe an incident at a party attended by several handsome young men. Thesiger is said to have exclaimed:

“Anyone for a spot of buggery?’”

He continued to act in films for the next 25 years. Thesiger died in his sleep from natural causes in January 1961, before the release of his final film, “The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone”.

“Soldier Sent To Prison,” Toronto Star. March 28, 1941. Page 44. ----- ‘In your case I am passing sentence without comment,’ Magistrate Gullen told Aubrey Staley, a soldier appearing for sentence on a serious charge and also for theft of a purse. ‘The sentence will be three years in Kingston penitentiary on each charge to run concurrently,’ ruled the court.