Last edited: November 08, 2003


Idaho Sex Reform: Adult Consent Law Adopted; Nation’s Third

The Advocate, June 22, 1971

BOISE, Ida.— This rugged western state whose capital, Boise, was convulsed by what has become widely known as a "homosexual witch-hunt" in 1955 and 1956 has become the third state in the nation to wipe laws dealing with private homosexual behavior off its law books.

The state’s new penal code, signed into law by Democratic governor Cecil D. Andrus on March 18, eliminates all penalties for private homosexual acts between freely consenting persons 16 years old and older and reduces solicitation for homosexual acts where no money is involved to a petty misdemeanor carrying a 30-day penalty.

Under the old law "the infamous crime against nature" was punishable by not less than five years in prison. One defendant in the mid-’50s scandal got life.

The new code goes into effect on January 1, 1971 [sic, 1972 -Bob], following Connecticut’s sex law reform, which takes effect in October. Illinois, the pioneer state in homosexual law reform, abolished its old law in January 1962.

At least one other state, Colorado, is expected to abolish its laws against private homosexual acts this year, and Oregon and Hawaii may follow suit.

One of the principal architects of the Idaho reform was former state Republican senator William Roden, who was a deputy prosecutor in the office of Ada County (Boise) prosecuting attorney Blaine Evans during the witch-hunt.

Roden now calls the witch-hunt, which was detailed by former Time and Newsweek editor John Gerassi in the 1966 best-seller The Boys of Boise, "a very unfortunate situation" and indicates that would have pursued it with less vigor if he had been prosecutor.

Initiated by Legislature

The new code is the result of a study initiated by the legislature itself in 1967, when an interim subcommittee of the Legislative Council was appointed to explore a possible need for a general penal code revision.

Rode[n], then in his fourth term, was chairman of the subcommittee. When he chose not to run for reelection two years ago, he was retained as a consultant to the subcommittee and did the drafting that led to the final bill.

The former Boise senator told The Advocate the new code was substantially the same as the Model Penal Code of the American Law Institute, which has been used as a guide for most penal code revisions considered by state legislatures. Its provision making "loitering to solicit deviate sexual relations" a petty offense has been widely criticized by advocates of homosexual law reform and was deleted in the Illinois reform and in the measure now awaiting the signature of Colorado governor John Love.

Rep. Clyde Keithly (R-Nampa) served as floor sponsor for the legislation embodying the new code, which the House passed 42-25 on February 26. Keithly is chairman of the house judiciary rules and administration committee, the code’s official sponsor.

The senate passed the measure March 9 by a vote of 23-11.

Roden, now an attorney in private practice, said that "the basic area of controversy" in both houses was the sex provisions of the code.

"I personally favor the provisions," he said. "I think our present laws as we have them in Idaho are rather archaic, and I frankly don’t care to see the so-called crimes against nature made criminal."

The Boys of Boise, which the Harvard Law Review called "a chilling account of the influence on the police and judiciary of an hysterical and largely ignorant public," wasn’t discussed in debate on the sex provisions of the code, Roden said.

Basic Provisions

These are the basic provisions of the code, as set forth by assistant attorney general Martin Ward, that pertain to homosexual acts:

Eliminates the original "infamous crime against nature" provisions in the law and substitutes these, under what will become Tide 18, Chapter 9:

"18-903. (1.) DEVIATE SEXUAL INTERCOURSE BY FORCE OR IMPOSITION. A person who engages in deviate sexual intercourse with another person or who causes another to engage in deviate sexual intercourse commits a felony of the second degree if (1) he compels the other person to participate by force or by threat of imminent death, serious bodily injury, extreme pain, or kidnapping to be inflicted on anyone, or (b) he has substantially impaired the other person’s power to appraise or control his conduct by administering or employing without knowledge of the other person drugs, intoxicants, or other means for the purpose of preventing resistance, or (c) the other person is unconscious, or (3) the other person is less than 12 years old. Deviate sexual intercourse means sexual intercourse per os or per annum (Mouth or anus) between human beings who are not husband and wife and any form of sexual intercourse with an animal.

"(2.) BY OTHER IMPOSITION. A person who engages in deviate sexual intercourse with another person, or who causes another to engage in deviate sexual intercourse commits a felony of the third degree if (a) he compels the other person to participate by any threat that would prevent resistance by a person of ordinary resolution, or (b) he knows that the other person suffers from a mental disease or defect which renders him incapable of appraising the nature of his conduct, or (c) he knows that the other person submits because he is unaware a sexual act is being committed upon him.

"18-904. CORRUPTION OF MINORS AND SEDUCTION. A male who has entered sexual intercourse with a female not his wife, or any person who engages in deviate sexual intercourse or causes another to engage in deviate sexual intercourse is guilty of a felony of the third degree if (a) the other person is less than 16 years old and the actor is at least 4 years older than the other person, or (b) the other person is less than 21 years old and the actor is his guardian or otherwise responsible for the general supervision of his welfare, or (c) the other person is in custody of law or detained in a hospital or other institution and the actor has supervisory or disciplinary authority over him."

In Idaho length of sentence is indeterminate, and the judge has considerable discretion in setting penalties. The new codes sets 30 years as a maximum for a second-degree felony and 15 years as a maximum for a third-degree felony.


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