T O P I C R E V I E W
keoki_14
Member # 1312
posted 01-05-2002 11:06 PM
I went to the www.ageofconsent.com chart and read Maryland's laws. For Maryland, you have to be 16 to have sex with the opposite sex, and for male/male and female/female the law was invalidated. What does that mean?And for some states it's illegal to have sex with the same sex. Why is that? I really don't understand that part. Especially if there are GLBT awareness clubs all over the place. Why do people of the same sex have sex if it's illegal?
Could you direct me towards some information?
------------------Useless Crap
"This **** ain't over until the last record spins." Groove
Milke
Member # 961
posted 01-06-2002 12:04 AM
Sodomy laws (those banning just about everything but male-female intercourse) still exist in a lot of places, but more because they haven't been repealed than for any other reason. And they would have come about because of people trying to legislate morality. If the law was invalidated I'd imagine that means that it used to be illegal, but has been changed. These laws aren't usually enforced, if it's any comfort.------------------ In the past this information has been supressed, but now it can be told: Every man, woman, and mutant on this planet shall know the truth about de-evolution.
rekling
Member # 6341
posted 01-06-2002 12:16 AM
from www.ageofconsent.com: Law Invalidated This means that the law was struck down by a court of law, making the law "null and void". It does not mean that the law was removed from the books or repealed by the legislators of the state. i would add that if that doesn't answer your question to a satisfactory degree, and you want more info, try calling a local queer advocacy group, or see if there is a gay and lesbian switchboard or legal service in your area. -------- it is indn some states. although, if memory serves correctly, it is only in some states that it is actually specified that same-sex sex is illegal. more often, i think it is that "sodomy" is illegal, with sodomy traditionally being defined as any non-hetersexual-penile-vaginal-intercourse (in other words, all manual, oral or anal sex). since those are frequently the sex practices engaged in by same sex couples, sex between people of the same sex is illegal. one of the major reasons for the creation of some of the myriad of LGBT groups in various states has been to fight for the legalization of queer sex.
why, then, do same sex couples have sex? because many of us feel that engaging in sexual acts in the privacy of our own homes (i won't get into public sex at the moment), when we are all informed of the danger we face if we are being spied on by the police and we are aware of the potential trouble that we (and no one else-- it is only effecting the people involved in the sex) could bring upon ourselves, should be legal, and that we should, like every heterosexually active citizen, are deserving of the right to sexual privacy, the right to make our own decisions about our bodies and our sexualities, and the right to enjoy sexual pleasure with the consenting partners of our choice. we continue to have sex, whether it is legal or not, because we enjoy it. some of us find sexual expression to be an important aspect of our emotional relationships with lovers. some of us enhance friendships through sex. some of us just like to have sex. some of us, myself included, have no intention of allowing laws in our states to be reinstated ( i live in ohio, and for the last year or so, we've been hearing that the right wing has been considering taking advantage of the fact that they are doing so well to attempt to reinstate the anti-queer sodomy laws which were repealed a few years back), and plan on continuing to insist that queer people, and all other people, have valid sexualities that cannot be hindered by the law.
<deep breath> that was a big long and soapboxy...i hope you made it through.
love and queer theory about public sex! -rek
keoki_14
Member # 1312
posted 01-06-2002 12:43 AM
Alrighty, I get it now. Thanks for clearing it up for me.Heh, I know why people of the same sex have sex, but I didn't know why they would have sex if it was illegal. But I now understand that it isn't really enforced.
That would be kind of awkward for a woman of 30 years old to say that she was put in jail because she had sex with her 28 year old girlfriend.
------------------Useless Crap
"This **** ain't over until the last record spins." Groove
rekling
Member # 6341
posted 01-07-2002 01:15 PM
i'm still a little confused about your original question, i guess. i understand that you are fully aware of why same sex partners have sex with eachother. what i don't understand is why you think a law banning consensual, healthy sexual expression, would prevent people from engaging in that type of sex. to any self-respecting queer person who looks at those laws, they seem ridiculous, and they seem to clearly violate the right to privacy and self expression. if a law was in place which limitted or banned the consensual sexual activities you engaged in within the privacy of your own home, what would you do?hugs and queer sex in private (and public...) -rek
Dude_who_writes
Member # 5640
posted 01-07-2002 07:09 PM
I'm always a sucker to plug a great website that is full of information on any given topic... and, you gave me the oppertunity too. Peter McWilliams wrote a great book called "Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do," and the wonderful guy put the whole thing on the internet... for free! He has a whole chapter dedicated to the reasons behind, and the reasons that they need to be repealed, consensual crime laws against homosexuality. You should read it, Keoki, it's probably the information that you're looking for: http://www.mcwilliams.com/books/books/aint/
And, for the rest of you for future reference, if you're ever writing a paper on consensual crime or are just intrested in why laws against prostitution, gambling, homosexuality, bigamy, polyamory, or any other topic under the scope of consensual crime, then you should definatly check out this book: http://www.mcwilliams.com/books/books/aint/
Wow, I hope that didn't feel spamish to anyone, but since it's free...
------------------ Tim (for the time being, I have dropped Dude.)
"Read the Bible again sometime. Women are painted as bigger antagonists than the Egyptians and Romans combined. It stinks." --"Serendipity" (Dogma)
Heather
Member # 3
posted 01-11-2002 08:49 PM
A lot of people do things which are illegal, for numerous reasons. But one of those reasons -- and a highly valid one -- is when laws are unjust and are completely discriminatory, especially when they disallow one group of people rights another group has for no reason other than bigotry.I think we can safely assume that more than one tired African American sat at the front of the bus rather than the mandated back a handful of decades ago. And one of them was Rosa Parks, who in doing so, started the wheels really turning to get laws in place that were unjust tossed away as they should have been.
Sodomy laws are ONLY in place at all not because same-sex activity puts anyone at a health or safety risk, but because one group of people feels it is "immoral" behaviour by their own personal belief system. That isn't okay.
So, in all honesty, when same-sex couples are sexually active in states or countries with inhumane restrictions against their right to choose partners as they will, with care, not only are they doing what everyone else has the free right to do, they're practicing some pretty important acts of civil disobedience.
And that right there -- civil disobedience -- is a very different thing than say, robbing a mini-mart. Would that all of our laws were just, reasonable and in our best interest. Many of them are not.
------------------Heather Corinna Editor and Founder, Scarleteen
My epitaph should read: "She worked herself into this ground." -- Kay Bailey Hutchinson
Lee
Member # 381
posted 02-10-2002 08:17 PM
Why do people of the same sex have sex if it's illegal?.....Welcome to the Real World 101. Laws do not determine what people will and will not do. Nor do they define what is right and wrong. Lots of people seem to be confused about this. They somehow reach the erroneous conclusion that if something is illegal that it is wrong to do it or be it. Well once upon a time it was illegal for blacks to vote in much of the country. Sixty-odd years ago it was illegal to be jewish (or gay or crippled or many other things) in the portion of europe controlled by Nazi Germany. There always have been and likely always will be laws in place that are discriminatory or just plain evil. Worrying about whether something is legal or not only makes sense in the context of wondering whether you'll be punished or not. It does not make sense when trying to determine whether something is right or wrong. I think it was Mark Twain who said "It takes an act of legislature to make something illegal, but only an act of God can make it wrong." I'm not exactly religious, but I do believe he had a point there.
Laws are not a measure of morality. In our country they are an agreed upon set of conditions defining the use of power in the society. In other places laws are the conditions set down by those who have power for those who don't have it. Regardless of their origin within the culture they represent order as opposed to chaos. A totalitarian regime is bad, but utter chaos and anarchy is usually worse, which is why such regimes are born and persist. Only when anarch is the lesser of two evils are they overthrown. In an enlightened society laws are created to protect citizens from those who would seek to cause them harm and to also protect the citizens from the state itself by limiting the power and authority of the state. Laws that seek to regulate consensual sexual activity between adults represent an failure of the power of the state to be limited. When this occurs it is the right and duty of those affected by such a law to refuse to follow it and to seek to have it changed. Failure to do this results in other abuses of power by the state. The wolf is always at the door and must always be kept at bay. This is why the first and second amendments are so important. They are what make the preservation of all other rights and freedoms possible. Those who fight the wolf will often pay a price for it. But then a good person is not someone who does as they are told, or does what they think is right when it is easy or convenient. A good person is someone who does the right thing when it is hard and when they will suffer because of it. There aren't enough good people in the world.
Lee
lemming
Member # 33
posted 02-10-2002 09:03 PM
Heck, my human sexuality prof told us that not too long ago in Ohio, there was a young married couple who turned themselves in after finding out that fellatio was illegal in that state. Luckily, their families had good lawyers, but they could have been prosecuted to the full extent of the law if no one had stepped in.------------------~lemming, Scarleteen Advocate
this is what you get for liking it ."Sebastian, you're in a mess, you had a dream they called you king of all the hipsters - is it true or are you still the queen?" --Belle and Sebastian, "Put The Book Back On The Shelf"
BruinDan
Member # 3072
posted 02-11-2002 02:42 PM
I heard a variation of that Urban Legend a while back, the difference was that the couple were in Maryland.At the moment, not a single one of the 50 states (or Puerto Rico or DC) prosecutes consenting adults for engaging in oral sex or sodomy. Several states still have archaic laws on the books which prohibit such behavior, but District Attorneys do not file charges when such activity takes place. The exception to this rule is when another law is broken, such as statuatory rape or molestation, or outright rape itself. In those cases, additional charges of forced oral copulation or sodomy will apply.
So basically, the sodomy / oral sex laws that are still on the books no longer function as laws prohibiting that sort of activity, rather they are used as enhancements when other crimes occur.
------------------ "Task Force 46, Light Force 34, Engine and Rescue 66, Battalion 3, Division 2; respond into the Greater Alarm Structure Fire at San Pedro and Jefferson. Reported to be a fire at the First Alert fire extinguisher factory... "
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lemming
Member # 33
posted 02-11-2002 09:07 PM
LOL, Danny, serves me right for not checking with Snopes .