Tag Archives: sodomy

MA Senate Votes To Remove “Archaic” Sodomy Law

Boston’s NBC affiliate reports: Massachusetts state senators passed a bill Thursday that will strike so-called “archaic laws” from state statutes. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled anti-sodomy laws unconstitutional in 2003 and Massachusetts has legally recognized same-sex marriage since 2004, but sections of state law still feature discriminatory restrictions on sexual interactions between consenting adults, lawmakers said Thursday. Massachusetts still has …

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DeSantis PAC: Anti-LGBTQ Ad Is “Perfectly Legitimate”

NewsNation reports: The presidential campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is facing criticism from a prominent group representing LGBTQ conservatives, which says a political advertisement attacking Donald Trump’s past positions on LGBTQ rights “ventured into homophobic territory.” Ken Cuccinelli, founder of the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down, says the ad was focusing on the “legitimate” difference between DeSantis’ and …

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Ted Cruz Calls For Texas To Repeal Anti-Sodomy Law

The Dallas Morning News reports: U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz says Texas should repeal a decades-old state law that criminalizes gay sex. “Consenting adults should be able to do what they wish in their private sexual activity, and government has no business in their bedrooms,” Cruz’s spokesman told The Dallas Morning News. His remarks make Cruz the most prominent Texas Republican …

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Democrats Celebrate Anniversaries Of Obergefell, Windsor, And Lawrence Rulings For LGBT Civil Rights

Just in from the Democratic National Committee: On the 3rd anniversary of Obergefell v. Hodges, the 5th anniversary of U.S. v. Windsor, and the 15th anniversary of Lawrence v. Texas, DNC Chair Tom Perez released the following statement: “Before the Supreme Court handed down its decision in U.S. v. Windsor five years ago, Edie Windsor said, ‘I think justice will …

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LOUISIANA: GOP Reps Oppose Bill To Outlaw Bestiality Because It’s A “Trojan Horse” To Legalize Sodomy

The Associated Press reports: In Louisiana, a proposal to strengthen the law against bestiality is facing unexpected opposition from conservative lawmakers who see it as an underhanded move to strike the state’s unconstitutional ban on sodomy. Creating a new, wide-ranging anti-bestiality law would untangle the offense from the ban on sodomy in Louisiana’s “crime against nature ” statute, prompting some …

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BRITAIN: Royal Assent Granted On Posthumous Pardon For Thousands Convicted Under Anti-Sodomy Laws

The Guardian reports: Thousands of men convicted of offences that once criminalised homosexuality but are no longer on the statute book have been posthumously pardoned under a new law. A clause in the policing and crime bill, which received royal assent on Tuesday, extends to those who are dead the existing process of purging past criminal records. The general pardon …

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BRITAIN: House Of Lords Extends Pardons For Archaic Sodomy Laws To Gay/Bi Men In Northern Ireland

The Guardian reports: An amnesty for gay and bisexual men convicted of consensual sex with people of the same sex has been extended to Northern Ireland. Until Wednesday, the region was excluded from legislation that posthumously pardons men convicted of sexual offences that are no longer illegal and allows the living to apply to have convictions overturned. The legislation did …

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TEXAS: State Rep Seeks To Strike Gay Sodomy Ban

The Houston Chronicle reports: Every day in Texas, more than an estimated half-million people are breaking a law that’s on the books, but unenforceable. It’s technically illegal to be gay in Texas. The law, passed in 1974, makes homosexual conduct a class C misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine. The law has been …

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SCOTLAND: Government Moves For “Automatic Pardon” For Gay Men Convicted Under Old Sodomy Laws

The BBC reports: The Scottish government is to move to pardon men who were convicted of same-sex offences before laws against homosexuality were scrapped. The UK government has announced plans for posthumous pardons for men who were convicted under laws now abolished. There was controversy after an SNP members’ bill on the topic was “talked out” at Westminster, with Theresa …

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BRITAIN: MPs Shout “SHAME!” As Tory Justice Minister Kills Bill To Pardon Gay Men Convicted Of Sodomy

The Sun reports: There was widespread anger in the House of Commons as the Government talked out the Turing bill, which would automatically pardon gay men convicted of now abolished sexual offences. MPs shouted ‘shame’ and ‘shameful’ as Justice Minister Sam Gyimah killed off SNP MP John Nicolson’s private members bill. The Government has announced plans for thousands of gay …

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ALAN TURING LAW: Britain To Formally Pardon 65,000 Gay Men Convicted Under Sodomy Laws [VIDEO]

Last month the office of British Prime Minister Teresa May signaled that this would happen but gave no timeline. Today we get confirmation. The Guardian reports: Gay and bisexual men convicted of now-abolished sexual offences in England and Wales are to receive posthumous pardons, the government has announced. Thousands of living men convicted over consensual same-sex relationships will also be …

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MISSISSIPPI: Class Action Suit Filed Against State Over Sodomy Convictions Requiring Sex Offender Status

Courthouse News Service reports: A federal class action filed more than a decade after the Supreme Court struck down state sodomy laws challenges a Mississippi statute that requires people convicted of having anal sex to register as sex offenders. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of five Mississippi residents who say they were convicted under various sodomy prohibitions, including the …

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Harlem Hate Pastor James David Manning: Sodomy Is A White Person’s Disease

“Germany is a big hotbed for sodomy and everybody knows about France. And then of course in Belgium, and the Netherlands, and Switzerland, and Sweden, and Norway, and Finland. All that region is the hotbed and origination of modern sodomy. Not in China. You’re not gonna find that in China. You’re not gonna find that in India. You’re not gonna …

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FLASHBACK: That Time Ted Cruz Passed On Defending Sodomy Laws At SCOTUS

Bloomberg gives us some interesting history: [Ted] Cruz is making the gay marriage debate the cornerstone of a bid to rally conservatives to his 2016 presidential bid, but same-sex issues haven’t always been the top priority for a lawmaker who built his profile as a limited-government, Tea Party-aligned conservative. As Texas solicitor general when the Lawrence v. Texas case came …

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Liberty Counsel To SCOTUS: Don’t Approve Same-Sex Marriage Because Sodomy Should Still Be Illegal Anyway

The Liberty Counsel today filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, arguing that same-sex marriage must not be legalized nationwide because homosexuality should still be criminalized in the first place. An excerpt: Nearly seven decades of Kinseyan cultural transformation have shown that Kinsey’s promises of a freer, more enlightened and safer society were, at best, illusory, and at worst, …

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Texas State Rep: Keep Our Sodomy Ban

Via the San Antonio Express: Barely two months after a federal judge struck down Texas’ hair braiding regulations, a move to erase the unconstitutional statute already has bipartisan support. Not so for Texas’ anti-sodomy law, which remains on the books a dozen years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. “Absolutely, there is a difference,” said Rep. James White, …

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JAMAICA: Mat Staver To Headline Event To Keep Homosexuality Criminalized

Miranda Blue writes at Right Wing Watch: American Religious Right leaders Mat Staver and Judith Reisman are scheduled to be featured speakers at a conference in Jamaica this weekend hosted by a group that has been working to preserve the country’s criminal ban on consensual gay sex. The annual conference, hosted by the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society, will …

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SINGAPORE: Court Upholds Sodomy Law

Via the Straits Times: The highest court in Singapore has upheld Section 377A of the Penal Code, the law that criminalises sex between men, rejecting arguments that the provision contravenes the Constitution. In ruling that the provision is constitutional, the three-judge Court of Appeal on Wedesday rejected two separate challenges to strike down the law. Gay couple Gary Lim, 46, …

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ALABAMA: Attorney General Wants Court To Reconsider Overturn Of Sodomy Ban

Last Friday an Alabama appeals court struck down the state’s ban on consensual oral and anal sex. Yesterday Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange indicated that he will seek an appeal of that ruling. In a statement, the attorney general said the office believed the law was unconstitutional as applied to consensual acts. However, he said he was concerned with the …

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Alabama Court Strikes Down Sodomy Law

An Alabama appeals court yesterday struck down the state’s ban on consensual oral and anal sex. Such acts have been legal nationwide since Lawrence V Texas, but still. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals issued its unanimous ruling in Williams vs. Alabama, the appeal of a Dallas County man who was convicted of sexual misconduct, though the jury found the …

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