ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the challenge of writing about what we currently refer to as LGBTQ history for periods when modern categories of sexuality and gender identity did not yet exist. It discusses the categories used by Early Americans to evaluate same-sex desire and individuals whom we would describe as transgender, as well as the pragmatism shown by many colonists in their response to individuals who exhibited same-sex attraction. Finally, it argues that Early Americans generally praised and encouraged love between men and between women, even as they condemned sexual intimacy between members of the same sex.
