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Compiled By GayToday
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New York, New York--Ruling Friday that it is unconstitutional for
Arkansas to ban consensual sex for adult same-sex couples, a court
overturned the state's anti-gay sodomy law in response to a challenge from
seven lesbian and gay state residents, represented by Lambda Legal Defense
and Education Fund.
The ruling emphasized that government oversteps when it tries to dictate
highly intimate, personal decisions and when it singles out one group of
people for a rule not applied to others.
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Lambda Legal's Ruth Harlow: "It's a ruling that also liberates lesbians and gay men from second-class citizenship" |
"This is a victory for every resident of Arkansas. It stresses that the
state's constitution shields their bedrooms from Big Brother," said Lambda
Legal Director Ruth E. Harlow, adding, "It's a ruling that also liberates
lesbians and gay men from the second-class citizenship this law imposed."
"(I)t is consistent with this State's Constitution to hold that an adult's
right to engage in consensual and noncommercial sexual activities in the
privacy of that adult's home is a matter of intimate personal concern which
is at the heart of the right to privacy in Arkansas," ruled Pulaski County
Circuit Court Judge David B. Bogard, adding, "and this right should not be
diminished or afforded less constitutional protection when the adults
engaging in that private activity are of the same gender."
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Under the overturned law, Arkansas singled out same-sex couples for a
criminal ban on consensual sex, including oral and anal sex, with
punishment of up to one year in jail and a fine of $1,000. The law did not
apply to non-gay couples.
Thus, the court further found, "the Sodomy Statute simply does not have
equal application, it unjustifiably discriminates, and thus is
unconstitutional" under the Arkansas right to equal protection.
State constitutional rights also have been critical to the elimination of
invasive sodomy laws in many other states, including Georgia, Kentucky,
Montana, and Tennessee. In the 1960's, all states still criminalized oral
and anal sex. Now, only three states--Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas--have
gay-specific sodomy laws and just 12 others still criminalize certain sex
acts for both gay and non-gay consenting adults.
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Related Stories from the GayToday Archive:
Texas Upholds Conviction
of Two for Consensual Sex at Home
Louisiana's Sodomy Law
Upheld by State Supreme Court
Sodomy Laws: Why They Should Be Our Top Priority
Related Sites:
Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund
NGLTF: Sodomy Issue
GayToday does not endorse related sites.
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Lambda currently is challenging Texas's "Homosexual Conduct Law" in a case
stemming from the arrest of two men having consensual sex at home.
(Picado v. Jegley, No. CV 99-7048)
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