On may 25th, 1895, Oscar Wilde was put in prison for gross indecency. Queensberry (Sir John Sholto Douglas) accused him of having homosexual relationships with other men and Wilde tried to deny these claims by accusing Douglas of libel. When this backfired he refrained from leaving England, stayed for the trials, and ended up getting sentenced to two years in prison with hard labor. Before the trial began, it is believed Wilde got romantically involved with Alfred Douglas whose father, Sir John Sholto Douglas, found out and accused Wilde of Sodomy. Queensberry told his son Alfred to stop all contact with Wilde or he’d “disown… and stop all money supplies” (Source 2). Oscar denied these claims and figured that his public image would help him in a trial against this man. As a way to defend himself, he went on to convict Sir Douglas of Libel. However, Douglas argued that Wilde solicited twelve men to commit Sodomy between the years of 1892 and 1894. On the third day of the proceedings Wilde's Lawyer found there was “abundant evidence of clients guilt” and he chose to withdraw from the case (Source 1).

After the libel drama with Queensberry, Sir Edward Clarke, Wilde’s lawyer, “urged Wilde to drop the case” and flee to France until the drama over his public image dies down (Source 2). After failing to accuse Queensberry of Libel, Wilde was accused of gross indecency, a very serious charge up until the late 1960s when England decriminalized same sex relationships. Wilde remained in England throughout the gross indecency trial. During this time the line from A Picture of Dorian Grey reading “love that dare not speak its name” was cross examined extensively (Source 1). While Oscar Wilde secured a mistrial on his first trial, during the second trial, beginning on May 21st, Oscar Wilde was convicted of gross indecency. Despite many potential witnesses not betraying Wilde and the Judge thinking that this was a trial without adequate evidence for conviction, Wilde was sentenced to two years in prison with hard labor and no bail. By the time Oscar Wilde got out of prison on May 19th of 1897 he was exiled to France and died there three years later at age 45 in poverty. 

Sources: 

1. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/oscar-wilde-is-sent-to-prison-for-indecency (Source 1)
2. https://www.biography.com/news/oscar-wilde-trials-downfall-gross-indecency (Source 2)
3. https://time.com/3890539/oscar-wilde-trial-history/ (Source 3)

​​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXbpox7l8r0 (Source 4)