The Widdershins

and I’ll continue that to say still in charge in Louisiana, that is.  And that may hold for the entire Southland as far as I know.  And the reason I write that is because the Louisiana Legislature, in its collective wisdom, decided not to repeal the state’s sodomy law, even though those laws were found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the case of Lawrence v Texas.  Now, although the Lawrence case involved a gay couple, it affected gay and straight couples and what they choose to do or not do in their bedrooms.  Truthfully though, how these types of laws were acted on was a different story, affecting gay folks more than our heterosexual friends.

Now even though these types of laws were ruled unconstitutional by the Supremes in 2003, some locations still had laws on the books regarding “sodomy” and as even as late as last year, a group of men in Baton Rouge were set up and arrested and the police used the illegal sodomy statute.

As the two men moved their chat to a picnic table, the deputy propositioned his target with “some drinks and some fun” back at his place, later inquiring whether the man had any condoms, according to court records. After following the deputy to a nearby apartment, the man was handcuffed and booked into Parish Prison on a single count of attempted crime against nature.

Now, the district attorney in Baton Rouge had the good sense to decide not to prosecute these guys because:  no crime had been committed.

So that brings us to the present day and the current session of the Louisiana lege.  State representative Pat Smith, D-Baton Rouge, put forth a bill to strike the law, RS (Revised Statute) 14:89 from the books.  R.S. 14:89 reads as follows:

§89.  Crime against nature

A.  Crime against nature is the unnatural carnal copulation by a human being with another of the same sex or opposite sex or with an animal, except that anal sexual intercourse between two human beings shall not be deemed as a crime against nature when done under any of the circumstances described in R.S. 14:41, 14:42, 14:42.1 or 14:43.  Emission is not necessary; and, when committed by a human being with another, the use of the genital organ of one of the offenders of whatever sex is sufficient to constitute the crime.

B.(1)  Whoever violates the provisions of this Section shall be fined not more than two thousand dollars, imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than five years, or both.

(2)  Whoever violates the provisions of this Section with a person under the age of eighteen years shall be fined not more than fifty thousand dollars, imprisoned at hard labor for not less than fifteen years nor more than fifty years, or both.

(3)  Whoever violates the provisions of this Section with a person under the age of fourteen years shall be fined not more than seventy-five thousand dollars, imprisoned at hard labor for not less than twenty-five years nor more than fifty years, or both.

C.  It shall be an affirmative defense to prosecution for a violation of this Section that, during the time of the alleged commission of the offense, the defendant was a victim of trafficking of children for sexual purposes as provided in R.S. 14:46.3(E).

Amended by Acts 1975, No. 612, §1; Acts 1982, No. 703, §1; Acts 2010, No. 882, §1; Acts 2012, No. 446, §1; Acts 2013, No. 83, §1.

NOTE:  R.S. 14-41,42, 42.1 and 43 deal with different categories of rape

Now the bill was successfully passed out of committee last week and thus went to the House floor. It was then defeated on the floor by 27-66.  Eleven members of  the House chose not to vote.  Real courage there.  Said Rep. Smith:  “I never thought it would pass, but I thought it would do better,” said Smith. “Some of the folks who voted to get it out of committee voted against it on the floor.”   Again, real courage.

So what happened between the bill being favorably passed out of committee and then being so soundly defeated in the full House?  Well, the Louisiana Family Forum sent a letter to each and every legislator.  The letter  in part:

urging them to vote against the proposal, claiming that teenagers would be less protected from sexual predators if they went through with the repeal. They also said the bill would put the public health at risk.

“Louisiana’s anti-sodomy statute is consistent with the values of Louisiana residents who consider this behavior to be dangerous, unhealthy and immoral,” stated the letter to lawmakers from the Louisiana Family Forum.

The forum describes itself this way:

• The organization supports Louisiana’s covenant marriage law and opposes abortion and same-sex marriage.
• Tax ID: 72-1416555
• Nonprofit category: Interdisciplinary Research
• Founder: Tony Perkins