Overturn of Sodomy Law Now Applies Statewide

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by Pam Louwagie and Margaret Zack

Star Tribune staff writers. July 3, B1.

a court order striking down the states law that prohibits oral and anal sex now applies to all Minnesota adults under a ruling issued by a Hennpin County judge Monday.

The plaintiff's attorneys said that means consenting adults who engage in sexual acts in private, concommercial settings would be protected from prosecution.

District judge Delila Pierce gave class action status to a case in which eight plaintiffs sued the state challenging the sodomy law in May. Pierce found the law was unconstitutional because it violated rights to privacy. Monday's order gives her ruling statewide effect, attorneys for the plaintiffrs contend.

"It's a great day." attorney Timothy Branson said. If the attorney general doesn't appeal Pierce's ruling, he daid, "the sodomy statute for private consensual acts is dead letter for all time.

The law, on the oboks since te 19th contury, made oral and anal sex illegal even when it's private and between consenting adults, such as married couples.

With the backing of the ACLU, eight plainntiffs sued the state, the governor, and the attorney general to challenge the law.

the plaintiffs included a lesbian attorney who argued she could have faced eviction from her home because her lease prohibits illegal activity, a quadrapalegic married man whose only forms of sexuaal intimacy are unlawful, and a married Minneapolis teacher who could lose his license if he were found to be breaking state law.

Pierce, in a 13-page ruling issued Monday, said the plaintiffs represented a "broad spectrum" who engage in the conduct, and were adaquate representatives for class-action status.

-- john Littmann (johntl@mtn.org), July 04, 2001

Answers

“Overturn” , “Sodomy Law” , “ Judge Pierce” , “Broad Spectrum”

Is the Onion ‘behind’ this ‘piece’?

;^)

-- Telinet (like@it.is), July 04, 2001.


Personally, I think this is a good thing. I've never seen so many misspellings in an article, however. Maybe once the sex issues are out of the way, laws will change that forbid folks from eating ice cream after 8pm.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), July 04, 2001.

Well, now, as an attorney in Minnesota I've found this whole thing facinating. I suspect that most men always suspected that, somewhere, somehow, there was indeed a constitutional right to a blow job.

Now -- the big legal question. Is this a mere right, or is it an ENTITLEMENT?

-- E.H.Porter (just.wondering@about.it), July 04, 2001.


E.H.,

I believe that is covered under the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness".

-- Jack Booted Thug (governmentconspiracy@NWO.com), July 05, 2001.


Jack -- while I've not read the district court opinion on the subject, I would not be inclined to disagree with you.

Remember this moment -- 20 years from now, when government funded blow jobs for the less fortunate are a major political issue, you can recall that you were there when the trend started.

-- E.H.Porter (just.wondering@about.it), July 05, 2001.



E.H., as you appear to be tapped into the legislative infrastructure, I for one would appreciate a ‘heads up’ when they kick off the pilot program. ;>)

-- So (cr@t.es), July 05, 2001.

um...I think he said less fortunate {grin}

-- (cin@cin.cin), July 05, 2001.

Details, details……{bigger grin}

-- So (cr@t.es), July 05, 2001.

Paul Milne and his wife Linda breathed a great sigh of relief at this news. Now they can travel to Minnesota...

-- Long Memory (gary@north.com), July 06, 2001.

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