Ignoring Lawrence

The U.S. Supreme Court was unambiguous in Lawrence v. Texas, its 6-3 decision in 2003 that struck down the nation's sodomy laws. But at least two states are stubbornly refusing to conform.

In Kansas last year the state's second highest court pushed Lawrence aside to uphold a state law meting out different punishments for gay and straight sex. The court upheld the 17-year prison sentence imposed on Matthew Limon in 2000 for engaging in oral sex with a 14-year-old male when Limon was 18. The state's "Romeo and Juliet" law sets the maximum penalty for straight teenagers at 15 months if they have sex with a minor within four years of their age. The court said that the 1,260% sentencing discrepancy was just fine, because Kansas had the right to punish gay sex with minors more harshly than the exact same sex acts performed by an opposite-sex teen. The American Civil Liberties Union is now appealing the case to the Kansas supreme court, where a decision is expected in September.

Meanwhile, Virginia attorney general Jerry W. Kilgore--who's running for governor on an antigay platform--is refusing to void that state's sodomy law, contending Virginia can still prosecute gay men who meet in public. Prosecutors are holding fast to the 2004 solicitation of sodomy conviction of Joel Singson, claiming he intended to have sex in public and that Lawrence applies only to private sex. Singson, arrested after propositioning an undercover cop in a department store restroom, insists he intended to have sex in a private place; the police officer disagrees. The Virginia court of appeals is expected to hear oral arguments this fall.

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