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posted by takyon on Wednesday February 10 2016, @12:35AM   Printer-friendly
from the bugger-off dept.

Source: http://www.newnownext.com/michigan-senate-passes-bill-making-anal-sex-punishable-by-15-years-in-prison/02/2016/

The Michigan Senate just passed a bill that makes sodomy a felony, despite the U.S. Supreme Court declaring such a law unconstitutional. The state's law, which makes anal sex punishable by up to 15 years in prison, is not specifically targeted at gay people, as it's illegal regardless of whether a couple is same-sex or different-sex. Instead, the sodomy ban is directly linked to a law against bestiality, essentially saying the two are equal.

The law states that it is a felony for anyone to commit "the abominable and detestable crime against nature with mankind or with any animal." It's the "with mankind" wording that creates the loophole to keep the sodomy ban intact, even though the 2003 ruling in Lawrence v. Texas declared it unconstitutional.

Now that the bill has passed through the Senate, it is headed to the House for approval, which means there is still time to change the wording and keep "mankind" out of it entirely. But GOP Senator Rick Jones says an attempt like that could put the entire bill, created to protect animals, in jeopardy. "The minute I cross that line and I start talking about the other stuff, I won't even get another hearing. It'll be done," said Jones. "Nobody wants to touch it. I would rather not even bring up the topic, because I know what would happen. You'd get both sides screaming and you end up with a big fight that's not needed because it's unconstitutional."

Note: Contrary to the headline of the first article, the definition would include oral sex.

Also at Boing Boing, Mic.com, RT.

Senate Bill 0219 (2015)


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  • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Wednesday February 10 2016, @02:50AM

    by NotSanguine (285) <NotSanguineNO@SPAMSoylentNews.Org> on Wednesday February 10 2016, @02:50AM (#301872) Homepage Journal
    Michigan [wikipedia.org] has long been a haven for the brightest minds of medieval times [wikipedia.org]. At the same time, the changes proposed to the Michigan Penal Code [mi.gov] do not modify the definitions of crimes, merely some definitional language and penalties. The extant section (MPL 750.158):

    Any person who shall commit the abominable and detestable crime against nature either with mankind or with any animal shall be guilty of a felony, punishable by imprisonment in the state prison not more than 15 years, or if such person was at the time of the said offense a sexually delinquent person, may be punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for an indeterminate term, the minimum of which shall be 1 day and the maximum of which shall be life.

    The changes as published in the bill passed by the Michigan State Senate:

    23 Sec. 158. (1) A person COMMITS the abominable and detestable crime against nature either with mankind or with any animal IS guilty of a felony , punishable by imprisonment FOR not more than 15 years, or if THE DEFENDANT was A SEXUALLY DELINQUENT PERSON at the time of the offense, A FELONY punishable by imprisonment for an indeterminate term, the minimum of which shall be 1 day and the maximum of which shall be life.

    So, they're not changing what is already on the books as to what constitutes sodomy. Presumably the human component has already been invalidated with Lawrence v. Texas [wikipedia.org] but remains in force WRT to non-human animals. As such, and as usual, this is a non-story blown up because certain folks have problems with reality and want you to know all about it.

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  • (Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Wednesday February 10 2016, @05:11AM

    by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Wednesday February 10 2016, @05:11AM (#301936) Journal

    Snopes.com [snopes.com] clarifies. I guess it's unimportant in the end, since as you and Snopes indicated, the sodomy laws are unenforceable. Wrt my outrage below, I still need to look fully into what's above that part when I can use my desktop next.