The first Mississippi criminal code to reference same-sex sexual activity was enacted in 1802, it criminalized sodomy and later "crimes against nature," therefore criminalising same-sex sexual activity. In 1995, those convicted of sodomy were required to register with the sheriff's office under sex offender laws; however, by this time, the enforcement of Mississippi's sodomy law had diminished.

In 1802, the Mississippi Territory, which Alabama was part of at the time, enacted a new code that made sodomy a capital offense.