Washington, D.C. September 14, 1993 -- The D.C. Sodomy Law reform goes
into effect.  The manditory Congressional 60 day review period for
changes to the D.C. criminal code has expired today for the Sodomy Law
reform act, allowing the change.  A new subsection to the D.C. Sodomy
law has been added reading:

    "No act engaged in only by consenting persons 16 years of age
    or older shall constitute an offense under this section."

The Criminal Code Right to Privacy Amendment Act of 1993, the offical
name of the legislation, was unanimously passed by the D.C. Council
and signed by Mayor last May.  It now goes into effect.

No opposition emerged on the Hill despite loud denounciations and threats
by extreme right wing religious leaders in D.C.  These same leaders
did manage to get Congressional opposition to funding the D.C. Domestic
Partnership program, which Congress removed from the D.C. budget.  Both
Houses of Congress would have to pass a Motion to Disapprove and have it
signed by the President to overturn a D.C. Council action.
Constitutionally, the U.S. Congress holds complete power over the District
of Columbia which has only been allowed to have a local government since
the late 1960s.

Prior to passage of this law, sodomy--defined as oral-genital,
genital-anal, or anal-oral contact--was felony punishable by up to
$1000 fine and ten years in jail.  The law aplies equally to hetrosexual
and homosexual relations.

An arrest last November of two men accused of "attempting sodomy,"
a misdemeanor, was nullified by a jury which refused to find the
men guilty of engaging in oral sex.

A similar law in Virginia was recently the basis for removing a child
from his Mother.

Twenty-three states still have sodomy laws, although Texas is under
a court challenge after a Judge ruled the law unconstitutional, and
Michigan and Massachussetts have inconclusive rulings also calling
those laws unconstitutional under their states' constitutions.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1986, Bowers v. Hardwick,
that it is constitutional for states to criminalize sodomy.

A reception will be held at the District Building on Friday,
September 17, to officially celebrate the act going into effect.


- Bob Summersgill        |      Xq28 -- Thanks Mom!
  XE605C @ GWUVM.GWU.EDU |