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 Unprecedented Legal Case & Political Action Unfolding High Court's 1st Gay-Oriented Case in 101-Year History |
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Compiled by GayToday
This week's events--known in Puerto Rico as a "jornada"--cap months of political protests against the sodomy law, including group fasts and weekly protests in front of the Supreme Court in San Juan. Public forums will focus on the effects of Puerto Rico's sodomy law, progress in the legal challenge and additional options for repealing the law. Attorneys from the ACLU's New York-based Lesbian & Gay Rights Project will speak at several gatherings with leading Puerto Rican gay rights activists and local ACLU leaders. "This is an important week in Puerto Rico's history. For a long time, gay issues have not been publicly discussed here," said Janice Gutierrez-Lacourt, Executive Director of the ACLU of Puerto Rico. "However uncomfortable some people here may be with lesbians and gay men, they are even more uncomfortable with the government invading the most personal and private aspects of their lives. We believe Puerto Ricans are ready to get rid of this law, and so is our Supreme Court." Earlier this year, the Puerto Rico Supreme Court reversed itself and announced that it will hear the ACLU's challenge to the sodomy law, which bars any private, consensual sexual contact between people of the same sex - as well as certain forms of intimacy between any adults. The Court has not yet scheduled oral arguments in the case, which will mark the first time in history it has weighed gay rights. Gutierrez-Lacourt said the sodomy law is a "clear danger" to lesbians and gay men in Puerto Rico. For example, the lead plaintiff in the ACLU lawsuit, Rev. Margarita Sanchez, was threatened with arrest in 1998 while testifying against an anti-gay bill in the Puerto Rico legislature. In a separate development the following year, an appeals court ruled that Puerto Rico's domestic violence law does not apply to lesbians and gay men because the sodomy statute "makes homosexual conduct a crime." Chronology of Sanchez v. Puerto Rico
June 1998 The American Civil Liberties Union files a lawsuit challenging Puerto Rico's sodomy law on behalf of Sanchez and five other lesbian and gay plaintiffs, as well as on behalf of the ACLU's straight and gay members in Puerto Rico. The lawsuit charges that the law violates the equal protection and privacy rights guaranteed by both the Puerto Rico and United States Constitutions. March 1999 Rejecting the government's contention that nobody is injured by the sodomy law, a Superior Court Judge rules in favor of ACLU and orders that the challenge to Puerto Rico's sodomy statute must go forward. The judge's ruling finds that the existence of the law, coupled with government threats to enforce it, has a "chilling effect" on sexual expression and relationships. November 1999 In an unrelated case of domestic violence involving a gay male couple, an appellate court rules that Puerto Rico's law on domestic violence does not apply to lesbians and gay men, saying the sodomy law "makes homosexual conduct a crime." May 2000 Dozens of people march through downtown San Juan, demanding the repeal of the sodomy statute. The Puerto Rico Court of Appeals dismisses the ACLU's challenge to the sodomy law, saying no citizens can show that they are directly impacted by it. January 2001 After initially refusing to hear the case, the Puerto Rico Supreme Court reconsiders and agrees to hear oral arguments for a still-unscheduled date later in 2001. It marks the first time that a gay rights case will be heard by Puerto Rico's highest court in its 101-year history. Summary/Context of Sanchez v. Puerto Rico Background Puerto Rico's nearly-100-year-old sodomy law states that "any person who has sexual relations with a person of the same sex, or commits the crime against nature with another human being" has committed a felony, which can result in up to a 10-year jail sentence and/or a $1,000 fine. The law is commonly interpreted to outlaw any sexual activity between members of the same sex, and anal sex between any people. Like all sodomy laws (which 18 U.S. states still have), the mere existence of Puerto Rico's sodomy law is a threat to lesbians and gay men, as it can be used to intimidate them and deny them other legal rights. But Puerto Rico's law has also been a more direct threat in recent years. Rev. Margarita Sanchez, the lead plaintiff in the ACLU's lawsuit challenging the sodomy statute, was threatened with arrest while testifying before Puerto Rico's legislature. Just weeks later, a top Puerto Rico Justice Department official announced that the government would prosecute people under the sodomy law if they had enough evidence for conviction. In an unrelated case in 1999 involving domestic violence between a gay couple, an appeals court ruled that Puerto Rico's law protecting people from domestic violence cannot apply to lesbians and gay men, since the very nature of their relationships is criminal under current law. Legal Claims The ACLU filed a lawsuit in Puerto Rico Superior Court on behalf of Sanchez, five other lesbians and gay men, and the ACLU's straight and gay members in Puerto Rico. The lawsuit seeks to strike down the sodomy statute under both the U.S. Constitution and Puerto Rico's Constitution. In particular, the ACLU asserts that:
Broad National Implications In 1961, all 50 states and Puerto Rico had sodomy laws. Since then, most states have either voluntarily repealed the laws or courts have found them unconstitutional. In recent years, courts in Montana, Kentucky and Georgia have all struck down those state's sodomy laws. Puerto Rico's sodomy law is particularly important to the broader struggle against anti-gay sodomy laws in part because it clearly illustrate how sodomy laws are used to silence and intimidate lesbians or gay men, or even to directly discriminate against them. The legal battle over Puerto Rico's sodomy law also crystallizes a paradox with national and international implications. Puerto Rican culture is, in many ways, hostile to lesbians and gay men. But at the same time, Puerto Rico has a long-standing cultural commitment to individual privacy. Both of these cultural leanings are common in many Latino communities in the U.S. and abroad. Legal and political debate about the sodomy law forces this paradox to the surface, and causes people within these cultures to more clearly examine lesbian and gay equality in the context of their broader beliefs. |
