ACLU Appeals Kansas Gay Teen Sex Ruling
Gay.com
/ PlanetOut.com Network, October 2, 2003
By Ann Rostow
SUMMARY: The American Civil Liberties Union will file
briefs on Friday in the case of a Kansas youth sentenced to 17 years in prison
for having consensual oral sex with another boy.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) will file
briefs on Friday in the case of a Kansas youth sentenced to 17 years in prison
for having consensual oral sex with another boy.
Matthew Limon was charged under the adult sodomy law for
an incident that took place when he was 18 and his friend was nearly 15. If
Limon’s friend had been female, he would have been charged under the
“Romeo and Juliet” law, which governs heterosexual, but not homosexual,
teenage sex. Under Romeo and Juliet, amorous teens receive a maximum jail term
of 15 months. (Limon’s sentence was particularly long due to a previous
juvenile sex charge on his record.)
If the case sounds familiar, it’s because it has
already been argued and decided by the Kansas state appellate court, which
upheld the sentence last year. After the state Supreme Court declined review,
the ACLU petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the appeal. The court took
no action on the petition until June, when the justices sent the case back to
the Kansas Court of Appeals for reconsideration in view of their opinion in Lawrence
v. Texas. In Lawrence, the high court struck the Texas sodomy
law as an unconstitutional violation of the right to privacy, effectively
striking sodomy laws in Kansas and elsewhere.
The Limon case does not turn on the right to privacy,
however. In treating heterosexual teens differently than same-sex culprits,
the ACLU argues that the state violates the Equal Protection Clause without
providing a reason that is rationally related to a legitimate state interest.
According to the ACLU, the Kansas attorney general
attempts to justify the disparate treatment with “nonsensical” rationales,
including the notion that the Romeo and Juliet law acts as an incentive for
heterosexual teens to get married, and that the law serves to discourage teen
pregnancy.
Although no date has been set for oral arguments before a
state appeals court, the ACLU estimates that they will be scheduled before the
end of the year.
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