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.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Wednesday February 10 2016, @02:50AM
The changes as published in the bill passed by the Michigan State Senate:
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.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Wednesday February 10 2016, @05:11AM
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.