Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

[Uncle Sparky]

Just because the laws haven't been officially repealed by the legislatures doesn't mean they are in force. If the police tried someone on that law they would not be able to get a conviction and therefore it isn't in force. For christ's sake Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, which is on your stupid map, is openly gay.

It isn't my map - the map is from a group concerned with legal rights in the USA. If you read the entire article, or even the bit i quoted, you will note that most states have simply changed the wording of their laws slightly to 'end run' the Supreme Court. “Abominable and Detestable Crime Against Nature” or “Gross Indecency” are not covered by Lawrence, according to ultra-conservatives. Because of this, I refuse to cross the border to Minnesota and have consensual sex with other men. I'm not gay, however, there is a principal here!

[Dinner]

I believe you'll find all sorts of laws still officially on state books which never the less the Supreme Court has struck down and which are thus no longer valid. I don't any southern states officially repealed their seporate but equal laws yet never the less they're history.

[Aeson]

I wouldn't be surprised at any of these stupid laws being used, or still having the potential to **** with people's lives. Even if it gets struck down later in the courts, these laws still have the potential to be used as a way to shame and ostracize people.

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19960715&slug=2339310

In all probability, countless others in Gem County over the years have been doing that without knowing about state statute 6604. The law, enacted in 1921, had been forgotten for generations - until this year.

Alarmed by the rising numbers of young, unwed mothers on the welfare rolls, Gem County Prosecutor Doug Varie and Sheriff Mark John decided to use the old law as a new tool to discourage teenage sex.

(I went to High School in Emmett, ID, which is why this specific story came to mind.)

[Egbert]

I believe you'll find all sorts of laws still officially on state books which never the less the Supreme Court has struck down and which are thus no longer valid. I don't any southern states officially repealed their seporate but equal laws yet never the less they're history.

And there are some old laws that are pretty well forgotten. For example, I hear it is an offence to drive a herd of sheep down Ventura Boulevard. Umh, I can't imagine anybody trying to drive a herd of sheep down one of the busier arterial roads in Los Angeles. And if they did they would presumably get charged with something other than this very old law?

It also an offence to "carry off a llama" in South Australia.

[Uncle Sparky]

It also an offence to "carry off a llama" in South Australia.

In Australia, would that not fall under 'crimes of passion'?

[Egbert]

In Australia, would that not fall under 'crimes of passion'?

No. I think you are getting confused with Canada.

[molly bloom]

Are gays given pre-employemnt medical tests to see if they're gay?

How exactly would you do that ?

How many people are in prison for being gay?

Mercifully I live in the United Kingdom where homosexuality has been decriminalized since the late 1960s, so exactly how many people are currently incarcerated in the loving care of the U.S. prison system is not a figure I have at hand- nor are the various different categories of major reason for incarceration.

I suspect being gay in and of itself would not be the reason stated for prosecution and imprisonment in any case.

Are kids being sent home from school

Do you seriously imagine that schoolchildren who come out as gay face no prejudice in the school system in the U.S. ? If you do, you are deceiving yourself.

taught that being gay is a crime..

Against nature ? For sure.

and that they should say no to homosexuality?

Yes. Never been to an overly religious state in the U.S. ? Never heard fundamentalist Christian preachers or right wing talk radio hosts, or heard Falwell or Robertson blame acts of nature on homosexuality or society's supposedly lenient attitude to homosexuality ?

You must have been absent from the U.S. for quite a few recent decades.

Gays haven't been treated like potheads are for decades

It's still possible to operate heavy machinery or fly aircraft if you're gay or lesbian. I don't my pilot to be three joints closer to bliss thanks. Or drunk, for that matter...

The worst they can come up with is "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Is that right ?

Since the don't-ask-don't-tell policy was implemented during the Clinton administration, around 12,500 servicemembers have been dismissed because of their sexuality.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-5001396-503544.html

So- you don't have to have sex in front of anyone, or have huge caches of explicit porn on your computer- you can be dismissed for just being honest about your sexuality.

Of course that is an improvement of sorts on the previous policy that saw the likes of Matlovitch and Berg hounded by the armed services.

Gays deal with negativity, and small-mindedness..

Yes, and physical and mental harassment at school, college, work and even ostracism from their own families.

[Pax]

I did like visiting the MLK memorial in Atlanta. It's a great memorial & museum.

I grew up a few blocks from the memorial, church, museum and center for non violent social change. I think when you live so close to something you take it for granted.

[Guynemer]

Felch has to be trolling here. He just has to be. There is no way he can be serious.

[Pax]

Wrong. http://equalitymatters.org/blog/201108080012
[ATTACH=CONFIG]171096[/ATTACH]

Thank-you for playing.
The continued prosecutions don't include those convicted and jailed prior to Lawrence v. Texas.

There are many laws on the books that have not been repealed however, certain laws are not enforced. Can you cite a specific case where someone has been prosecuted for sodomy that was not in PUBLIC. I have walked up on people having sex in public gay and straight and they all get charged.

[Imran Siddiqui]

What Pax said.

[Felch]

Felch has to be trolling here. He just has to be. There is no way he can be serious.

Why can't I be serious?

So gay people are mocked. Plenty of people are made fun of everyday. Who hasn't made fun of Al because he's a virgin, or Ben because he's a dishonest liar, or Al because he couldn't become a Marine, or Kidicious because he's ****ing retarded, or Al because he gave a whore a car without even getting any ***** in exchange? Being made fun of isn't the exclusive domain of homosexuals.

Potheads are ****ing ARRESTED! Not hypothetically, oh there's still a law on the books, but actually ****ing arrested every single day. They are arrested for a lifestyle choice that hurts no one but themselves.

How many jobs require people to pass drug tests? More than you might think. You can't work for the government, you can't work in a factory, you can't even work at Walmart. And it's not a matter of showing up to work high either, since these drug tests will fail you if you smoke after work or at parties just as surely as if you wake and bake every day. You can drink a fifth of Jim Beam every day and get whatever job you want, but if you smoke a couple joints on the weekend, you're unacceptable. The drunk gets the benefit of the doubt, until he shows up stinking of alcohol. The pothead is never even given a chance.

And yeah, there was Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and a bunch of people couldn't keep their mouths shut. All they had to do was keep their work and personal lives separate. I do that at every job I take, because I have no rights. If 12,500 servicemen couldn't keep their mouths shut, then **** them. They had a chance I'll never have.

True story: After I was laid off from a job a couple years ago, I tried to enlist in the Army. I was cool with the idea of quitting weed, if I could at least shoot guns for a living. But because I had been arrested for possession eight years earlier, I wasn't good enough to be cannon fodder. There was no chance to just keep my mouth shut, the recruiter looked up my record and told me to get lost. That's ****ing reality.

[giblets]

Homosexuals are delusional if they think someone who likes to **** guys in the ass is going to have more trouble than someone who likes to get stoned in 2012. Hey, I don't want pilots to fly while they are having sex with men.

[Hauldren Collider]

Felch

Also, let's not forget discrimination against atheists. I wouldn't mind having a sob story for my demographic!

[giblets]

Atheism is protected by the first amendment and atheists seem to do just fine in seeking employment. If some idiot like Kidicious claims that atheists secretly believe in God or have no morals then it's free entertainment. Atheists have no chance of becoming president, which is true for the vast majority of Americans. What discrimination?