Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

North Carolina continues to enforce Unconstitutional Sodomy Law.

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • North Carolina continues to enforce Unconstitutional Sodomy Law.

    More bad news from my state. I'm trying to work with my local GLBT groups to see what can be done about it.

    N.C. Sodomy Law Still Enforced Despite Ruling on Texas Measure
    Associated Press, August 25, 2003


    RALEIGH, N.C.—Police and sheriff’s deputies are still enforcing North Carolina’s crime against nature law despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a similar Texas law prohibiting homosexual sex.

    The North Carolina law is defined to ban oral or anal sex between unmarried couples. Critics contend it has been used to criminalize gay relationships and discriminate against homosexuals.

    Constitutional law experts and gay advocates say the state statute became invalid when the Supreme Court struck down the Texas law against sodomy.

    “We don’t believe that there is a constitutional way to enforce the crime against nature law,” said Seth Jaffe, managing attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina.

    Law enforcement officials said they continue to use the law because it is their only way to make arrests for prostitution that involves oral sex, which isn’t covered under the state’s prostitution law.

    Prosecutors also bring crime against nature charges against people who have sex in public, which other state laws don’t specifically prohibit. A charge of indecent exposure would not necessarily apply because it’s a crime to be naked in public only if seen by a member of the opposite sex.

    John A. Maxfield, legal adviser to the Wake County sheriff, and Dawn Bryant, Raleigh’s police attorney, have told officers they can continue to charge people with crime against nature as long as the activity occurs in a public place.

    “We’re following constitutional law,” Bryant said. “The Supreme Court’s decision only applies to private conduct.”

    Prosecutors in Brunswick County, for example, recently dismissed charges against three men for sexual activities at a party in a private residence.

    They are pursuing charges against six men accused of having oral sex in a public park near a school.

    “The only thing we want,” Brunswick County assistant district attorney Connie Jordan said, “is for them not to have sex next to where kids are getting on a bus.”

    No figures were available on the number of people charged with crime against nature in North Carolina since the Supreme Court ruled June 26. In the first six months of this year, more than 400 people were charged with either violating the crime against nature law or soliciting to break the law.

    At least one jurist, Mecklenburg County District Court Judge Nate Proctor, has declared the state law unconstitutional as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision. Proctor’s ruling, now on appeal, came in the case of a 38-year-old man charged with solicitation to commit crime against nature.

    The man alleges he was lured into a flirtatious conversation with an undercover officer in a public park, said his lawyer, Ray Warren of Charlotte, a former Superior Court judge and state legislator.

    Warren said he was disappointed that neither the state’s Conference of District Attorneys nor state Attorney General Roy Cooper has issued definitive statements urging prosecutors to halt charges under the statute.

    Cooper spokesman John Bason said the Attorney General’s Office offers opinions only when government officials or agencies request them. None have asked for formal guidance on the issue, he said.

    I also posted the Sodomy Statute of NC below.

    North Carolina
    Statute: 14-177, Crime Against Nature. Unconstitutional under Lawrence v. Texas.
    Penalty: 3 years
    Classification: Felony
    Restrictions: None

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Statute
    14-177. Crime against nature

    If any person shall commit the crime against nature, with mankind or beast, he shall be punished as a Class I felon.

  • #2
    “The only thing we want,” Brunswick County assistant district attorney Connie Jordan said, “is for them not to have sex next to where kids are getting on a bus.”

    I'm all for sexual freedom, but you can't really argue with that statement?

    Comment


    • #3
      So nail 'em on public indecency. "Sodomy" shouldn't be against the law.
      Christianity: The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree...

      Comment


      • #4
        The point is they are breaking the law and no one is doing enough to stop it.

        Comment


        • #5
          It may not be right, but it's not unconstitutional.
          Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.
          "Hating America is something best left to Mobius. He is an expert Yank hater.
          He also hates Texans and Australians, he does diversify." ~ Braindead

          Comment


          • #6
            If any person shall commit the crime against nature, with mankind or beast, he shall be punished as a Class I felon.
            "the crime against nature"? That's very vague. If they won't specifically say "sodomy" then don't take their crap. They're pussies. (...bad pun, eh?)

            I always get fantasies about the Supreme Court sending down federal troops to enforce its rulings in the backwards south...
            meet the new boss, same as the old boss

            Comment


            • #7
              It may not be right, but it's not unconstitutional.
              Supreme Court Strikes down Sodomy Laws = Sodomy laws Unconstitutional period.

              What about this does not make sense to you?

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by mrmitchell
                I always get fantasies about the Supreme Court sending down federal troops to enforce its rulings in the backwards south...
                I can see it now... "National Gaurd Mobolised to Enforce Sodomy"
                meet the new boss, same as the old boss

                Comment


                • #9
                  At least one jurist, Mecklenburg County District Court Judge Nate Proctor, has declared the state law unconstitutional as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision. Proctor’s ruling, now on appeal, came in the case of a 38-year-old man charged with solicitation to commit crime against nature.

                  The man alleges he was lured into a flirtatious conversation with an undercover officer in a public park, said his lawyer, Ray Warren of Charlotte, a former Superior Court judge and state legislator.
                  What? So you can get arrested in NC for telling someone "I want to suck your big throbbing ****"? What kind of a state is that anyways?

                  (And considering he was led into it, no, I'm not being sarcastic.)
                  meet the new boss, same as the old boss

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Thorn


                    Supreme Court Strikes down Sodomy Laws = Sodomy laws Unconstitutional period.

                    What about this does not make sense to you?
                    The fact that it's wrong. SCOTUS' opinion only reached to private conduct in a private setting.
                    When all else fails, blame brown people. | Hire a teen, while they still know it all. | Trump-Palin 2016. "You're fired." "I quit."

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      The fact that it's wrong. SCOTUS' opinion only reached to private conduct in a private setting.
                      That is your opinion based on your interpretation.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Thorn


                        Supreme Court Strikes down Sodomy Laws = Sodomy laws Unconstitutional period.

                        What about this does not make sense to you?
                        A big NO The USSC said the Texas law was unconstitutional and not the North Carolina law. They the S.C. just will have to go state by state.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          A big NO The USSC said the Texas law was unconstitutional and not the North Carolina law. They the S.C. just will have to go state by state.
                          The Supreme Court is the law of the land, they strike something down in one state, it pertains to ALL States!

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            "They are pursuing charges against six men accused of having oral sex in a public park near a school."

                            Good for NC. These people need to control themselves in public places. No one has a constitutional right to engage in sexual activity in public. Please point out any court ruling that says that a community cannot regulate lewd activities in public places.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Good for NC. These people need to control themselves in public places. No one has a constitutional right to engage in sexual activity in public. Please point out any court ruling that says that a community cannot regulate lewd activities in public places.
                              This puritan backed nonsense makes me sick.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X