Subject: ACTION ALERT: Massachusetts "Sodomy" Law
From: James Yorton <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 1996 13:15:43 -0600 (CST)

[ submitted by [email-masked] ]

URGENT ACTION ALERT
S.1032, REFORM OF ARCHAIC SEX LAWS

The Massachusetts State Senate is expected to vote in the near future on
S.1032, A BILL WHICH WOULD DECRIMINALIZE adultery, cohabiting after a
divorce, fornication, and sodomy. Passage of S.1032 is one of MGLPC's
legislative priorities for the 1995-96 legislative session.

ACTION REQUESTED
If you are a resident of Massachusetts, MGLPC urges you to contact your state
senator this week  (see list below) TO REQUEST HIS OR HER SUPPORT of this
legislation. If you are not sure of which senate district you live in, please
email MGLPC with your name and full street address.

BACKGROUND
In the past 20 years, over half of the states in the U.S. have abolished laws
relating to private, consensual behavior between adults.  Indeed, only 22
states still criminalize such behavior.  Massachusetts and Rhode Island are
alone among the six New England states -- in fact, the only two states in the
entire northeast -- still to have laws on the books which criminalize
private, consensual, non-commercial intimate conduct between adults.  And
Massachusetts' laws pertaining to sexual conduct are among the harshest in
the country.

In testimony before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary in 1995, MGLPC
asserted its strong belief that intimate behavior between consenting adults
is an intensely personal, private matter.  "Governmental involvement in these
issues in particular is a fundamental intrusion into the most private aspects
of our lives," stated lobbyist Barbara Boring.  "Laws which criminalize
private, consensual adult behavior are repugnant to the basic values of
individual freedom and the right to privacy, and they are an unwanted
intrusion into the private lives of every Massachusetts citizen.  Government
simply does not belong in the bedrooms of its citizens."

Boring further testified that MGLPC has had vast experience in the effects of
prejudice and hatred.  "We are especially sensitive to the vulnerability of
gay people to the selective enforcement of laws:  we cannot allow these laws
to be  used as an excuse for harassment of and discrimination against gay
people, and we support their immediate repeal," she said.

LIST OF SENATORS TO CONTACT RE: S.1032
Amorello, Matthew - Rm. 314 - TEL (617) 722-1485 - Grafton
Antonioni, Robert - Rm. 109E - TEL (617) 722-1230 - Leominster
Bernstein, Robert - Rm. 218 - TEL (617) 722-1544 - Worcester
Berry, Frederick - Rm. 109 - TEL (617) 722-1410 - Peabody
Birmingham, Thomas - Rm.332 - TEL (617) 722-1500 - Chelsea
Clancy, Edward - Rm. 410 - TEL (617) 722-1350 - Lynn
Creedon, Michael - Rm. 413C - TEL (617) 722-1200 - Brockton
Durand, Robert - Rm. 109C - TEL (617) 722-1120 - Marlborough
Havern, Robert - Rm. 513 - TEL (617) 722-1432 - Arlington
Hicks, Lucille - Rm. 413F	 - TEL (617) 722-1572 - Wayland
Jacques, Cheryl - Rm. 312D - TEL (617) 722-1555 - Needham
Jajuga, James - Rm. 216 - TEL (617) 722-1604 - Methuen
Keating, William - Rm. 213C - TEL (617) 722-1222 - Sharon
Knapik	, Michael - Rm. 309 - TEL (617) 722-1415 - Westfield
Leahy, Daniel - Rm. 416B	 - TEL (617) 722-1630 - Lowell
Lees, Brian - Rm. 308 - TEL (617) 722-1291 - E. Longmeadow
Magnani, David - Rm. 413A - TEL (617) 722-1640 - Framingham
Melconian, Linda - Rm. 320 - TEL (617) 722-1660 - Springfield
Montigny, Mark - Rm. 413D - TEL (617) 722-1440 - New Bedford
Morrissey, Michael - Rm. 213B - TEL (617) 722-1494 - Quincy
Murray, Therese - Rm. 511C - TEL (617) 722-1330 - Plymouth
Norton, Thomas - Rm. 333 - TEL (617) 722-1114 - Fall River
O'Brien, John - Rm. 416A - TEL (617) 722-1612 - Andover
Pacheco, Marc	 - Rm. 413B - TEL (617) 722-1551 - Taunton
Pines, Lois - Rm. 504 - TEL (617) 722-1639 - Newton
Rauschenbach, Henri - Rm. 315 - TEL (617) 722-1570 - Brewster
Rosenberg, Stanley - Rm. 212 - TEL (617) 722-1532 - Amherst
Shannon, Charles - Rm. 421 - TEL (617) 722-1578 - Winchester
Swift, Jane - Rm. 423 - TEL (617) 722-1625 - North Adams
Tarr, Bruce - Rm. 507 - TEL (617) 722-1600 - Gloucester
Tisei, Richard - Rm. 313 - TEL (617) 722-1206 - Wakefield
Tolman, Warren - Rm. 424 - TEL (617) 722-1280 - Watertown
Travaglini, Robert - Rm. 511B - TEL (617) 722-1634 - Boston
Walsh, Marian - Rm 405 - TEL (617) 722-1348 - Boston
Wetmore, Robert - Rm. 312C - TEL (617) 722-1540 - Barre
White, W. Paul - Rm. 109D - TEL (617) 722-1643 - Dorchester
**Wilkerson, Dianne - Rm. 312H - TEL (617) 722-1673 - Boston

**	designates lead sponsor

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