"Gay" in 1713

[Joel S. Berson]

This is presumably a looong stretch, but ---

 From The Tatler and Guardian, 1713 April 3 (no. 20), page 32, col. 2
{GB full view]:

All gallantry and fashion, one would imagine, should rise out of the
religion and laws of that nation wherein they prevail; but alas! in
this kingdom, gay characters, and those which lead in the pleasure
and fascinations of the fashionable world, are such as are readiest
to practise crimes the most abhorrent to nature, and contradictory to
our faith.

At that time, "crimes the most abhorrent to nature" were sexual acts
which could not lead to conception, thus including sodomy,
bestiality, and masturbation (as well as intercourse with a girl too
young to conceive, defined in some laws as age 10).

Is this some kind of antecedent to "gay" = 'homosexual"?  (In the
above, "characters" means "persons".)  On the other hand, the OED cautions me:

"A number of quotations have been suggested as early attestations of
this sense (see a sample below). It is likely that, although there
may be innuendo in some cases, these have been interpreted
anachronistically in the light either of the context (for example the
disguise as a homosexual of the protagonist of quot. 1941[1]), or of
knowledge about an author's sexuality."

Joel

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