Sodomy Laws To be reviewed by the Supreme Court

                On December 2, 2002 the Supreme Court agreed to consider the constitutionality of state sodomy laws, in which 13 states have a form of the law. The decision of the court will be made public by July of 2003. Sodomy laws are defined as abnormal sex, in some states including anal and oral sex. Nine states ban consensual sodomy for everyone: Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia. In addition, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma punish only homosexual sodomy.

               

I think sodomy laws should be banned and many groups agree. I don’t think it’s any of the government’s business what you are doing in your own home. The states say the laws, some dating back over 100 years, were intended to preserve public morals. Sodomy laws were once part of a collection of laws that prohibit every form of sexual activity, except for sex aimed at reproduction as part of marriage. There were also laws against birth control, cohabitation, adultery, and fornication, but now most of those laws were lifted. American society still chooses to isolate people due to their sexual preference, and that is morally wrong. Wasn’t this country founded on the principle that all people are created equal?

               

The sodomy law in Michigan is a 15-year felony classified as a crime against nature. The statue states: sec 158 “Any person who shall commit the abominable and detestable crime against nature either with mankind or with any animal shall be guilty of a felony, punishable by imprisonment in the state prison not more 15 years, or if such person was at the time of the said offense a sexually delinquent person, may be punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for an indeterminate term, the minimum of which shall be 1 day and the maximum of which shall be life.” Sec 159 states: “In any prosecution for sodomy, it shall not be necessary to prove emission, and any sexual penetration, however slight, shall be deemed sufficient to complete the crime specified in the next preceding section.” Just imagine in our own state you could go to prison for the same amount of time, if not longer, than a drug dealer or murder, and remember this law applies to everyone not just homosexuals.

 

Sodomy laws came into play in Texas John Geddes Lawrence and Tyron Garner were convicted and charged with having abnormal sex. The two men were arrested in 1998 after police responded to a false report of an armed intruder in Lawrence’s apartment. Police entered the apartment and found the two men having sex. The men were jailed, fined, and convicted under Texas’ Homosexual Conduct Law, which classifies anal or oral sex between two men or two women as deviate sexual intercourse. The convictions will keep the men from getting certain jobs, and in some states require them to register as sex offenders.

               

Many national groups will be out this summer picketing and getting support for this case when the Supreme Court reviews it. Living in a small town, you don’t really see gays and lesbians walking down the street holding hands. I guess they’re probably around, but for me it’s not an issue. Until I ended up working with this guy last summer, who happen to be gay, and now he’s a great friend. I would hope that he would get all the same opportunities that I do in life, because he deserves it, and he’s a great person. People shouldn’t judge him on his sexual preference, but if they do then they are the ones missing out. That’s why I feel the way I do about sodomy laws. In this country all people are created equal and we all follow the same set of laws, the constitution, and those laws shouldn’t be more fair or unfair for any certain type of people.

By Melissa Cramer, Michigan

2003 KarMel Scholarship Entry