House Rejects Proposal to Revamp Sodomy Law
Baton Rouge
Advocate, June 15, 2001
525 Lafayette St., Baton Rouge, LA 70821
Fax: 504-388-0371
Email: bbankston@theadvocate.com
By Scott Dyer, Capitol News Bureau
An attempt to legalize oral and anal sex between consenting adults in
private is apparently dead — at least for this year.
By a vote of 104-0, the House rejected an amendment to ease Louisiana ‘s
sodomy law that the Senate placed on House Bill 2047 by Rep. Danny Martiny,
R-Kenner.
Martiny urged rejection even though he supported a House effort to revamp
the state’s "crime against nature" law last month.
Martiny said the Senate amendment was poorly drafted and didn’t want to
put the House through another vote on the controversial issue.
"That was a tough vote for a lot of people," he said of the House
bill that failed by six votes last month.
"But at some point in time, it is our duty as a Legislature to look at
laws that are archaic and don’t make sense," Martiny said.
Martiny said the recent effort to ease the state’s sodomy law has wrongly
interpreted by some to be a gay rights’ initiative.
Martiny said the state’s sodomy law could also apply to married
heterosexual couples for sexual acts performed in the privacy of their own
bedrooms.
"It applies to all of us," Martiny said.
Martiny said he was concerned the sodomy provision might jeopardize his
bill, which, without the sodomy amendment, would clarify the state law
requiring the registration of sex offenders.
Martiny’s bill goes to a joint House-Senate conference committee, but he
said he will fight any attempt to revive the sodomy revamp on his bill.
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