Yay for the supreme court!!

[parrish122]

They *finally* struck down the sodomy laws. So after 10 years, I'm not commiting a felony whenever I make love to my wife.

Not that the law ever stopped me anyway. :D

So this ruling strikes down the laws in Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana,Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina,Texas, Utah, and Virginia.

You can read more about it at http://www.hrc.org

Parrish

[Echoed]

Same sex couples can now get married in Canada! Lol. Since... um... Last Tuesday, I think.

~Echo.

[parrish122]

Yeah, the HRC has an article about that too.

They think the US is going to resist recognizing marriages taken place there, however.

It *would* be nice to be able to have mine and Barb's relationship seen as legal. Not having to go through the effort of trying to find *other* ways to protect ourselves legally that heterosexual couples don't have to worry about.

Well, I still have hope that it will happen.

Parrish

[freddie]

Alright!!! Great news. I think that this issue shouldn't even be discussed. The right to privacy is an integral part of modern law since the french revolution. This is more a question of common sense then law... everyone has his freedoms and rights that he can't ever be denied of. Some so called democraties still have to learn this (cough*Guantanamo Bay*cough*)


I'm really currious what kind of laws did this states have, that they had to be over-thrown by the supreme court. Police could raid your house if you made love to a person the same sex as you? :rolleyes:

Btw: Why are they called sodomy laws? Isn't sodomy sex with animals? :confused:

EDIT: Sorry I'm dumb..."Sodomija" in slovene is "sex with animals" while it's "sex among men" in englsih... don't mind me sorry *blushes* stupid idiot :laugh:

[parrish122]

Freddie, you are thinking of beastiality (I probably spelled that wrong. Sorry. It isn't a word I use often. :) )

I pulled out the dictionary so I could define sodomy without making any of the MOD's hair fall out. :)


Sodomy is anal or oral copulation with a member of the same, or opposite sex.

Now, in some states this was only illegal if it was a same-sex couple.

The police would have to get a warrent to raid your house...but technically yes, they *could* do so. Most of the time, when I've heard of people being charged, it was when the police had a warrent for something else and happened to catch the couple in the act.

Mostly, the laws were used as an excuse to deny us of civil rights. It wasn't that long ago that a woman in Florida was denied custody of her child because she was a lesbian. Her ex-husband, who had *murdered* his first wife, was given the child instead.

Parrish

[freddie]

Don't mind me Parish. I asumed that all the international word have the same meaning in different languages. Of course I've heard of beastiality before...

But it's interesting anyway how dictionaries desribe one term differently: according to the "Oxford advanced learners dictionary the word "sodomy" is explained as such: "anal sex, esp between men" ... no oral sex.

But police raiding people's houses and then charging them is pure insanity. It's interesting that such a law has to be introduced to force privileges that were considered as inalienable 200 years ago. That's the price to pay for living in a federal regulation in which different states have their own legislature, where they can spread their prejudice without the central legislature interfering.

[Uhaku]

in thailand, same sex couple can get married. a few though. legal or illegal, nobody cares. lol. i guess if u got $$, u get everything u want.

[ypsidan04]

Originally posted by parrish122
They *finally* struck down the sodomy laws. So after 10 years, I'm not commiting a felony whenever I make love to my wife.

Not that the law ever stopped me anyway. :D

So this ruling strikes down the laws in Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana,Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina,Texas, Utah, and Virginia.

You can read more about it at http://www.hrc.org

Parrish

Are you sure you didn't miss a state? Because I live in Michigan, and a while back on a talk radio station I listen to, they said that in Michigan it is (technically) illegal for homosexual partners (gays and lesbians) to have sex in their own home. (but, unless I'm mistaken, its also illegal to tie an alligator up to a fire hydrant, and there aren't even alligators in Michigan! :p). And not only that, but jaywalking is supposed to be illegal, and that happens like 50 times a day at the University of Michigan. It's practically famous for it.

[parrish122]

Well, I'm going by what the HRC said. I double-checked, and the states I listed are the ones they listed. It's certainly possible they might have forgotten one, however. We're all human. :)

Parrish

[parrish122]

A copy of the ruling can be found here http://www.hatecrime.org/lawrence.rtf

CNN covers the ruling http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/06/26/scotus.sodomy/index.html

Interestingly enough, Justice Scalia, who was against getting rid of the sodomy laws says that the court has endorsed the "homosexual agenda", but then says he has nothing against homosexuals.

Parrish

[Kappa]

Happy you, parrish122. :P

It'll be a long time until sex between same sex couples is legal here in Mexico. *coughs* And while male/female couples are famous here in Mexico for openly doing the nasty in parks and green areas... we can't even do our thing in our own houses. LOL.

Ew. I just remembered that one time in which I went camping and found a used condom sticking to my boot after I set up my camp. That says a lot of my country.

There is a senator in here, Serrano Limуn, which is openly hated by homosexuals in Mexico. The guy once said we didn't have the fault of being sick, and all we had to be done was cured. (By who, I wonder? The church?)

There's also a common phrase among lesbians in here, which is "No somos cinco, no somos diez, pinche gobierno, cuentanos bien." (We're not five, we're not ten, goddamned government, count us correctly.) *snorts* This phrase was born due to the government adressing the homosexual population as an "unimportant minority" and some other rather offensive remarks against our rights.

*sighs* My country has no respect for human rights.

[Echoed]

Move to Canada! We're nice people? LOL.

~Echo.

[Lux]

yay! hm. interesting indeed. if i were to get married i'd do it in hawaii or somewhere in eastern europe. :dknow:

[parrish122]

another good article http://www.lesbianation.com/article.cfm?section=5&id=780

Actually Echoed, I have some friends who are talking about moving to Canada now. :) So who knows? You might end up with a *bunch* of us up there before too long.

Parrish

[ypsidan04]

Here's an article from the Detroit Free Press about the sodomy law in Michigan. There is currently a bill in the State House of Representatives that should officially repeal the law. They made a point in the article that the current law also applies to sex between a man and a woman as well. And yes, people have actually been prosecuted for this in the past, but not since 1990.

http://www.freep.com/news/mich/mgay27_20030627.htm

[Kappa]

One wonders, if the human being is born to be able to feel and enjoy, why laws were created?

(Sexual-repealing laws, of course.)

[freddie]

Originally posted by darje
One wonders, if the human being is born to be able to feel and enjoy, why laws were created?

(Sexual-repealing laws, of course.)

Look: the laws are made by the people in power. They make all the decisions. And they make the law in a way that suits them. And the people in power are usualy white, straight, uptight and hypocrite and also usualy male... those people make everything easy for themselves and hard for others. They do this while hidding behind the legislative branch of the goverment. It's logic.

[Kappa]

Originally posted by freddie
Look: the laws are made by the people in power. They make all the decisions. And they make the law in a way that suits them. And the people in power are usualy white, straight, uptight and hypocrite and also usualy male... those people make everything easy for themselves and hard for others. They do this while hidding behind the legislative branch of the goverment. It's logic.

All that you said makes sense but doesn't reply my question: all those white, straight, uptight and hypocrite (heh, it even rhymes) are usually those who take their own laws less seriously.

[freddie]

They take their own laws less seriously - but only those laws that don't reaffirm them in the ruling possition of the country. They take the laws pretty seriously when those help them to stay on top. Homophobia, racism, antisemitism...all those things are just conveniantley there. While political power is the real name of the game.

The only place I know where they managed to go past that (at least to some extent) is the Netherlands, and more specificaly Amsterdam (nobody is a starnger there, people are all the same race - human race, and homosexuality is not judged...). Slovenija is gettingthere, but it's still a good 20 years behind. But I hope that this change in thinking will be a nrmal thing in the future as far as EU countries are concearned.

[parrish122]

Here is an article that talks about other possible legal changes that might come from this.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/931895.asp

[ypsidan04]

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says he will endorse a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriages. Lets hope this doesn't happen.

"I very much feel that marriage is a sacrament, and that sacrament should extend and can extend to that legal entity of a union between, what is traditionally in our Western values has been defined, as between a man and a woman," said Frist, of Tennessee.

http://news.yahoo.com/fc?tmpl=fc&cid=34&in=world&cat=gays_and_lesbians

[parrish122]

You see, people like Bill Frist are the reason I'm hoping Howard Dean is our next president.

Parrish

[ypsidan04]

Originally posted by parrish122
You see, people like Bill Frist are the reason I'm hoping Howard Dean is our next president.

Parrish

Sorry, but who is Howard Dean? What are his beliefs that you like?

[parrish122]

Here is his site. www.deanforamerica.com

I like a lot of what he stands for. He's best known as the former Gov. of Vermont, that made civil unions for gay and lesbian couples legal in that state. :)

Parrish

[Charles]

And there lies an important point. It should be within the civil government's authority to recognize CIVIL unions without the need to satisfy any religious definition of marriage. This is another example of separation of church and state. If various religions want to disallow gay marriage, fine, let them. However, they shouldn't expect their views to be the civil law of the land, particularly since disapproval of gay marriage is far from universal.

The long-term effects of this decision will be interesting to follow. The logic behind the ruling seems to say if an activity is a) private, b) involves only consenting adults, and c) does no harm, then it is legal. Prostitution could arguably fit this description. Recreational use of mild drug (pot) fits too (the crime is usually in having pot, not using it).

[ypsidan04]

Here's an article about Howard Dean's campaign fundraising: http://www.msnbc.com/news/933274.asp?vts=070120031010

And another article from yahoo.com. http://news.yahoo.com/fc?tmpl=fc&cid=34&in=world&cat=gays_and_lesbians