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In 1730, Dutch officials pressed an accused sodomite into
informing on his friends. What they found was an
elaborate network of sodomites in the Netherlands' major
cities, especially Amsterdam. Under the influence of
Calvinism, the state religion, officials feared divine
retribution if they did not act quickly to purge sodomites
from their midst, so they launched an unprecedented
campaign to eliminate sodomites from their cities.
Playing on national fears, a
local magistrate, Rudolph de Mepsche, in the tiny village of
Faan launched a campaign to eliminate sodomitical sin from
the village. The sodomitical network de Mepsche
imagined did not exist, but many of the men and boys he
interrogated admitted to occasional dalliances perhaps to
avoid further torture. By the time he had finished, he
had overseen the executions of at least 24 men and boys.
England
and France both prosecuted
sodomites, but Dutch officials were the most aggressive of
all. By the end of the 18th
Century, nearly 600 men were convicted of sodomy, and many
of the convicts died by execution.
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