Arkansas Court Strikes Down Anti-Gay Sodomy Law
With 7 Arkansans, Lambda wins ruling that law violated
rights to privacy, equal protection
Lambda Legal Defense and
Education Fund, March 23, 2001
News Release
For Immediate Release
Contact: Peg Byron 212-809-8585 x 230, 1-888-987-1984 pager
Ruth E. Harlow 212-809-8585 x 210
NEW YORK — Ruling Friday that it is
unconstitutional for Arkansas to ban consensual sex for adult same-sex
couples, a court overturned the state’s anti-gay sodomy law in response to a
challenge from seven lesbian and gay state residents, represented by Lambda
Legal Defense and Education Fund.
The ruling emphasized that government oversteps when it tries to dictate
highly intimate, personal decisions and when it singles out one group of
people for a rule not applied to others.
"This is a victory for every resident of Arkansas. It stresses that
the state’s constitution shields their bedrooms from Big Brother," said
Lambda Legal Director Ruth E. Harlow, adding, "It’s a ruling that also
liberates lesbians and gay men from the second-class citizenship this law
imposed."
"(I)t is consistent with this State’s Constitution to hold that an
adult’s right to engage in consensual and noncommercial sexual activities in
the privacy of that adult’s home is a matter of intimate personal concern
which is at the heart of the right to privacy in Arkansas," ruled Pulaski
County Circuit Court Judge David B. Bogard, adding, "and this right
should not be diminished or afforded less constitutional protection when the
adults engaging in that private activity are of the same gender."
Under the overturned law, Arkansas singled out same-sex couples for a
criminal ban on consensual sex, including oral and anal sex, with punishment
of up to one year in jail and a fine of $1,000. The law did not apply to
non-gay couples.
Thus, the court further found, "the Sodomy Statute simply does not
have equal application, it unjustifiably discriminates, and thus is
unconstitutional" under the Arkansas right to equal protection.
State constitutional rights also have been critical to the elimination of
invasive sodomy laws in many other states, including Georgia, Kentucky,
Montana, and Tennessee. In the 1960’s, all states still criminalized oral
and anal sex. Now, only three states — Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas — have
gay-specific sodomy laws and just 12 others still criminalize certain sex acts
for both gay and non-gay consenting adults.
Lambda currently is challenging Texas’s "Homosexual Conduct
Law" in a case stemming from the arrest of two men having consensual sex
at home.
Lambda is the oldest and largest legal organization dedicated to the civil
rights of lesbians, gay men, and people with HIV and AIDS. With 15 attorneys,
Lambda has its headquarters in New York and regional offices in Los Angeles,
Chicago, and Atlanta. Lambda will open an office in Dallas in 2002.
(Picado v. Jegley, No. CV 99-7048)
– 30 –
Link directly to Lambda’s news release: http://www.lambdalegal.org/cgi-bin/pages/documents/record?record=812
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
www.lambdalegal.org
National Headquarters
120 Wall Street, Suite 1500
New York, NY 10005-3904
212-809-8585 phone
212-809-0055 fax
lambdalegal@lambdalegal.org
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