Sodomy Laws Remain in 12 States. Race To Avoid Roe vs Wade Repeat Begins
Supreme Court passed Lawrence v. Texas, which banned the prosecution of sodomy—any sexual act that could not result in children—across the country.However, despite this judgment, 12 states in the U.S.
still have "zombie" anti-sodomy laws on their books. This means that if Lawrence v. Texas were to be overturned, it would be illegal for gay people to have intimate relations in Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas.While heterosexual people can also engage in sodomy, prior to being overruled by the Supreme Court, anti-sodomy laws were largely used to prosecute gay people for their private lives.Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been clear that he wants the court to "reconsider" Lawrence v.
Texas as it is based on the same precedent of fundamental privacy as Roe v. Wade, which was overturned in 2022.Thomas has also said he wants the court to "reconsider" Obergefell v.
Hodges, which codified gay marriage, and Griswold v. Connecticut, which granted the national right to contraception.Texas State Representative Venton Jones and Michigan State Representative Noah Arbit spoke with Newsweek about their efforts to repeal anti-sodomy laws from their states' criminal codes before it is too late.Rep.
