by Frank L. Parker

Created on: August 07, 2009   Last Updated: August 13, 2009

Long ago, at a time in American history when railroad moguls had powerful monopolies, discrimination was commonplace, and recent immigrants broke their backs for pennies and were forced to live in tenements under the most vile conditions, state law makers took the time to sit down, ignore those problems entirely, and draft sodomy laws.

Amazingly, and according to my research both on line and using the law library at work, sodomy laws are still on the books in some fourteen states in the U.S., and this despite the fact that on June 26th, 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that sodomy laws are unconstitutional.

For the most part, these laws are not enforced to the extent that the police will break down your bedroom door on the night of your wedding anniversary, but exist largely to add additional charges when prosecuting violent sex offenders, and sex-workers. In this context, the laws are almost understandable, although the language of many sodomy laws is quite broad and can be applied to almost anyone engaging in specifically defined sex acts.

You all know about the movement to legalize marijuana, but can you imagine what a pro-oral-sex rally would look like? The very question, is oral sex still illegal in some states in the U.S., will evoke a smirk, admittedly from me and probably from you too, but when these types of laws are used as a form of control over the sex-lives of consenting adults or used as ammunition for zealots to further bash the gay community, the question is no longer amusing.

Laws that cover violent sex-crimes, and those that cover the crimes of sex-workers, should be written in a way specific to those crimes without the need of antiquated sodomy laws as a crutch or add-on. Most states, and the federal government, seem to recognize this and contemporary laws regarding these crimes are more in step with the needs of current society.

Considering the historical fact that lawmakers, in multiple states, sat down in rooms and took the time to debate the oral-sex issue just blows my mind, so to speak. Regardless of the point in time when the laws were written, surely there had to be something more worthy of their attention. Acknowledging that the laws making oral-sex illegal have continued in multiple states well into the twenty-first century, is something that I find both laughable and horrific at the same time.

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