Mississippi continues to struggle with its sodomy law
The word sodomy can have different meanings for different people. It should be googled for people who are not sure of its meaning as the author of this post is not willing to put it in print.
Regardless of how one feels about it, the Mississippi Legislature is struggling to bring this law up to the 21st century. Sodomy has been illegal in Mississippi since the state’s founding and was codified into law in 1839. This law is long overdue for some changes if not invalidated.
Mississippi’s law is vague and does not distinguish between some types of consensual and nonconsensual sexual acts, with the idea of consent now being so important in our courts.
Why can’t the Mississippi Legislators do the job they were elected to do: give the people of Mississippi constitutional laws?
Florida’s legal code still recognizes a statute criminalizing consensual sodomy; however, this state’s sodomy law has been rendered unenforceable by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling (Lawrence v. Texas, 2003) which asserted privacy rights.
If you are in the privacy of your own home, how is anyone able to know what you are doing anyway? If you are doing it in public, you deserve to be arrested.
Two consenting adults in private can only be found out if someone, somehow sees them, or they bragged about it. What happens in the bedroom should stay in the bedroom.
The article above states, “Florida’s legal code still recognizes a statute criminalizing consensual sodomy…”
A search of the word “sodomy” at http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm yields just three statutes:
(1) PROCEEDINGS RELATING TO CHILDREN
39.01 (38) 6. (c) Juvenile sexual behavior “… sodomy, and various other …”
(2) OBSCENITY
847.001 (23) “”Specific sexual activities” includes … (b) Acts of … sodomy … or representation thereof.”
(3) 985.475 Juvenile sexual offenders.—
(1) (b) 3. f. Juvenile sexual offender behavior “sodomy, and various other …”
I cannot find such a statute which specifically defines or criminalizes sodomy.