Comments on: This Week In History: Lawrence vs. Texas

By: Timothy Kincaid

Timothy Kincaid — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:48:13 +0000

Alex M

The arrest occurred last month in North Carolina. The charges were dismissed but the men still had to pay bail costs and spent the night in jail.

Now it’s my turn to stretch memories. In one of the 14 states that had their laws overturned by Lawrence, a legislator decided to clean up the books and, as a part of other legislation, included provisions that removed their sodomy laws. No one noticed and the legislation passed.

When it was discovered, it was a very big deal and anti-gays declared that they would ruin him for it. I seem to think that he was a Republican and not particularly pro-gay, but just didn’t want unenforceable laws on the books.

Can anyone provide more info? (It’s possible that I’ve gotten some of the details wrong).

By: AlexM

AlexM — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:11:59 +0000

Not only that, K, but it’s also important to remind people that, since the CAN laws ARE on the books in those backwards states, people can still be arrested because of those laws even if the judge will be forced to throw those charges out. My memory is failing me at the moment, so somebody else will have to link to that somewhat recent news story involving such a situation.

By: K

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:58:42 +0000

Uh, you’re jumping the gun a bit: The ruling came down on June 26th.

But it’s still important to remind people that, only five years ago, about a quarter of the states said we were felons.

And it’s probably also important to mention that these CAN (crimes against nature) statutes remain on the books in those states. It’s unlikely any state legislatures will go through the motions of repealing those obsolete laws any time soon, given that damn few state legislators in Alabama and Virginia and other backwards states wants to be associated with anything as “gay-friendly” as tidying up law books to erase unenforceable laws.

Sigh …