Date: Wed, 9 Jul 1997 22:19:21 -0800 From: Jeff Harris STATUS OF U.S. SODOMY LAWS: (amended 7/9/97 PM) Sodomy laws have been repealed by state legislature in 24 of the United States. In 1961, every when Illinois became the first state to repeal its law, every state had a sodomy law prohibiting certain kinds of sex for consenting adults . 1. ALASKA 1980 2. CALIFORNIA 1976 3. COLORADO 1972 4. CONNECTICUT 1971 5. DELAWARE 1973 6. HAWAII 1973 7. ILLINOIS 1962 8. INDIANA 1977 9. IOWA 1978 10. MAINE 1976 11. NEBRASKA 1978 12. NEVADA 1993 13. NEW HAMPSHIRE 1975 14. NEW JERSEY 1979 15. NEW MEXICO 1975 16. NORTH DAKOTA (1975?) (1989?) 17. OHIO 1974 18. OREGON 1972 18. SOUTH DAKOTA 1977 20. VERMONT 1977 21. WASHINGTON 1976 22. WEST VIRGINIA 1976 23. WISCONSIN 1983 24. WYOMING 1977 Sodomy laws have been struck down by state courts in at least 6 states, including Montana. Lower court rulings from Michigan and Louisiana and an incomplete rulings in Massachusettes, leave the status of those sodomy laws in question: 1. KENTUCKY: Commonwealth v. Wasson, 842 S.W.2d 487 (Ky. 1992) 2. NEW YORK: People v. Onofre 415 N.E.2d 936 (N.Y. 1980) 3. PENNSYLVANIA: Commonwealth v. Bonadio, 415 A.2d 47 (Pa. 1980) 4. TENNESSE *: Jan. 26, 1996, Tennessee Appeals Court: Campbell v. Sundquist struck down that state's Homosexual Practices Act, ruling the state's same sex only sodomy law violated their right to privacy under Tennessee's Constitution, a right recognized in the 1992 case of Davis v. Davis. In the earlier case, the Tennessee Supreme Court had established a state constitutional right to privacy, which gave Mr. Davis the right to prevent his ex-wife's donation to a childless couple of frozen embryos created using his sperm. It held that the Tennessee right to privacy included a right not to procreate. The decision was appealed by the state. The state supreme court denied the appeal without an opinion, thus leaving the court of appeals decision standing as the definitive ruling under the state constitution that the sodomy law is unconstitutional. 5. TEXAS: State v. Morales, 826 S.W.2d 201 (Tex. App. 1992), City of Dallas v. England, 846 S.W.2d 957 (Tex. App. 1993) review by higher court denied. 6. MONTANA 07/02/97 repeal of its same sex only law banning "Deviate Sexual Conduct" with threats of 10 years in jail and a $50,000 fine. That leaves only 5 states which still have have laws prohibiting only same sex relations. They are: 1. ARKANSAS M 5-14-111, Sodomy, 1 year/$1000, same sex only ARKANSAS repealed about 1972. In 1977-78, following the Anita Bryant flap, the law was reinstated, although in the specifically anti-Gay format which still prevails there. 2. KANSAS M 21-3505, Sodomy, 6 months/$1000, same sex only 3. MARYLAND F 27-553, Sodomy, 10 years F 27-554, Unnatural or Perverted Sexual Practices, 10 years/$1000 Found not to apply to noncommercial, hetrosexual activity in private. Schochet v. State, 1990. 4. MISSOURI M 566.090, Sexual Misconduct, 1 year/$1000, same sex only 5. OKLAHOMA F 21-886, Crime Against Nature, 10 years A 1977 effort to repeal sodomy laws was met with a vote-delaying "chorus of giggles." In 1986, Post v. the State of Oklahoma the state Supreme Court struck down the law as it applies to heterosexuals, noting it had not addressed the issue of same sex relationships. Sodomy laws that prohibit some kinds of sex for consenting adults heterosexual or homosexual still exist in, at most, 15 states. In two of those states, Louisina and Michigan, lower courts have struck down the laws in some jurusdictions. Those states have, so far, declined to appeal, but neither have the courts expanded the rulings to include the rest of those states. Both cases are inactive. 1. ALABAMA M 13A-6-65,Sexual Misconduct, 1 year/$2000 Does not apply to married couples. 2. ARIZONA M 13-1411, Crime Against Nature (anal intercourse), 30 days/$500 M 13-1412, Lewd and Lascivious Acts, 30 days/$500 3. FLORIDA M 800.02, Unnatural and Lascivious Act, 60 days/$500 4. GEORGIA F 16-6-2, Sodomy, 1 to 20 years Upheld as to homosexuals on the grounds that there is no fundamental federal constitutional right to "engage in sodomy." Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986). M 16-6-15, Solicitation of Sodomy, 1 year/$1000 5. IDAHO F 18-6605, Crime Against Nature, 5 years to life IDAHO was the second state to repeal. Immediately following the repeal, which was included in a general modernization of their criminal code, the Advocate, then a newspaper, ran a huge headline celebratorily announcing the repeal. This came to the attention of some Idaho state legislators, who called an emergency session of the legislature, into which they marched waving copies of the Advocate. The legislature repealed the entire just-enacted modernized criminal code, in toto. 6. LOUISIANNA* F 14.89, Crime Against Nature, 5 years/$2000. *Held unconstitutional by Orleans Parish Court, appeal pending. 7. MICHIGAN* 750.158 (crime against nature, felony w/ 15-yr max) * Invalidated by local trial court, Michigan Org. for Hum. Rts. v. Kelley, No. 88-815820 CZ (Mich. Cir. Ct. Wayne Cnty. July 9, 1990), The state had not appealed by 1995. 8. MASSACHUSETTS * F 272-34, Crime Against Nature, 20 years F 272-35, Unnatural and Lascivious Acts, 5 years/$100-$1000 * Crime Against Nature applies only to anal intercourse. Unnatural and Lascivious Acts has been held not apply to private consensual adult behavior. Commonwealth v. Balthazar, Supreme Judicial Court 1974. The ruling may also apply to a Crime Against Nature. 9. MINNESOTA M 609.293, Sodomy, 1 year/$3000 10. MISSISSIPPI F 97-29-59, Unnatural Intercourse, 10 years 11. NORTH CAROLINA F 14-177, Crime Against Nature, 10 years / discretionary fine 12. RHODE ISLAND F 11-10-1, Crime Against Nature, 7-20 years. Prohibits ordinary extramarital intercourse." 13. SOUTH CAROLINA F 16-15-120, Buggery, 5 years/$500 "Abominable crime of buggery:" no further definition in statute. 14. UTAH M 76-5-403, Sodomy, 6 months/$1000 15. VIRGINIA F 18.2-361, Crime Against Nature, 5-20 years Credits: Thanks to Franklin E. Kameny, Arthur Leonard, John Stone, Tom Neal and Paul Jeffrey for the additional citations. This list updates lists prepared by Bob Summersgill and the DC sodomy law coalition in 1994 and by Stephen Clark at Yale Law School in 1995. "Capital punishment is our society's recognition of the sanctity of human life." --Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)