Ignoring Lawrence v. Texas

Pam Spaulding and the News & Observer are reporting that two men in Raleigh, North Carolina have been arrested for violation of North Carolina's "crimes against nature" statute, a/k/a the sodomy statute. Never mind that the U. S. Supreme Court struck down the last remaining sodomy statutes in 2003 with its ruling in Lawrence v. Texas. North Carolina and Virginia both STILL have their sodomy statutes on the books and continue to utilize them to unduly punish gays rather than prosecute them under other statutes that carry less penalties. The City of Virginia Beach is notorious for using sting operations against gays (not that I comprehend why anyone would be so stupid as to solicit sex in a public restroom- perhaps Larry Craig can enlighten us).

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Why are these laws still on the books and utilized by the police? Because (i) the Republicans in the Virginia General Assembly are kissing the asses of the Christianists over at The Family Foundation and (ii) they carry much higher penalties and impose a felony record so that gays can be more severly punished. For example, Virginia already criminalizes both heterosexual and homosexual conduct that occurs in public: Indecent exposure in Virginia is a Class 1 misdemeanor and is punishable by up to twelve months incarceration and a $2500 fine. Open and gross lewdness and lasciviousness in Virginia is a Class 3 misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500. Likewise prostitution is a mere Class 1 misdemenor. Under the Virginia sodomy statute, however, the charge is a Class 6 felony punishable by up to five years in prison and $2500 fine. Such seems also to be the case in North Carolina. Here are highlights from the News & Observer:

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Raleigh police are charging two adults for sodomy in private, although the U.S. Supreme Court appears to have outlawed such charges five years ago. Police on Saturday charged two West Raleigh men with a "crime against nature" for having sex early that morning. Each faces up to two years in prison if convicted of the Class I felony. But that charge is unconstitutional, a state lawmaker says.

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North Carolina's "crime against nature" law doesn't apply only to same-sex partners. But a landmark 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling appears to forbid states from treating private, consensual, adult sex as crimes: "The petitioners are entitled to respect for their private lives," the high court ruled in the case Lawrence v. Texas. "The State cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime. Their right to liberty under the Due Process Clause gives them the full right to engage in their conduct without intervention of the government."

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Two months later, the Raleigh Police Department's attorney, Dawn Bryant, told officers they could keep charging people with crimes against nature for committing the acts in public places -- but not in private. Bryant could not be reached Saturday for comment. Nor could Wake County's district attorney, Colon Willoughby. Some district attorneys have stopped prosecuting the crime, but sometimes police rely on it to prosecute public sex, same-sex prostitution and opposite-sex prostitution involving oral sex.

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State Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, a Carrboro Democrat and attorney, has tried for years to rescind the state statute, but the General Assembly hasn't been willing to do it. "I press it every year," she said Saturday. "It would be politically difficult, but that doesn't matter -- it's unconstitutional."