The last man to be executed by a western democracy for being gay?

South American dandies, 

photographed by Roger Casement

When Roger Casement was sentenced to death for treason, a broad-based international movement for clemency seemed certain to force Britain to commute his sentence to life imprisonment.  Support came from the Pope, the Archibishop of Canterbury, the U.S. Senate, William Randolph Hearst, from artists and writers and statesmen and religious leaders, and from ordinary ppeople around the world -- even from the impoverished Congo natives who Casement had worked so hard to help.  But the clemency movement collapsed when the British government began secretly circulating copies of what they said were Casement's private diaries -- revealing a long history of patronizing young male prostitutes in Africa and South America.  The clemency movement collapsed overnight, and Casement was hung on 3 August, 1916.  

Irish partisans claimed the diaries were forged, and although strong evidence for their authenticity has emerged, the controversy continues to this day.  With or without the diaries, most historians and biographers have come around to the view that Casement was gay, and Irish public opinion seems ready to accept him as a gay hero.

Although Casement was one of the pre-eminent figures in the pre-1916 Republican movement, he's never attained the iconic status of the other Easter martyrs. Cahir O'Doherty discusses the implications of Casement's sexuality for his role in the pantheon of Irish heroes.