JEAN JACQUES RÉGIS DE CAMBACÉRÉS, French revolutionary and legislator, born; Throughout his career, his chief interest was in developing the principles of revolutionary jurisprudence. Although it is generally believed that he was solely responsible for legalizing in France same-sex relations between consenting adults in private, that is an oversimplification based on the irony that he himself was homosexual.

He was one of the principal framers of the Code Napoléon. Cambacérés sexuality was well known, and he was commonly called “Tante Urlurette,” The triumvirate of Napoleon, Cambacérés and Lebrun, in fact, was known as Hic, Haec and Hoc, Latin for “this one” in male, female and neuter genders, respectively. Cambacérés, so it is told, was once late for an appointment with Napoleon and offered the excuse of having “been with a woman” to the annoyed emperor. “Been with a woman?” Napoleon sniffed, “Next time tell her this: ‘Take your hat and cane and leave me.’”