Minnesota Sodomy Law Repealed
The Advocate,
September 5, 2001
The Minnesota attorney general’s office will not appeal a district court
judge’s ruling that every adult in Minnesota is covered under her recent
decision that the state’s sodomy law is unconstitutional. The deadline to
appeal was Friday. "Because of the nonappeal, it’s over," said
Chuck Samuelson, executive director of the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union,
which helped start the lawsuit challenging the state’s sodomy law. Hennepin
County district court judge Delila Pierce ruled in May that the state’s ban
on oral sex and other intimacy between consenting adults violates privacy
rights under the state constitution. Alan Gilbert, chief deputy attorney
general, said his staff consulted with Gov. Jesse Ventura’s office and
decided an appeal would be "lacking in merit." "We just think
the legal principles of the court are soundly based," Gilbert said.
Critics say Attorney General Mike Hatch failed to do his public duty by not
appealing. "When the laws of the state are being attacked, he should
defend them, and he should defend them to the end," said attorney Greg
Wersal, who helped lead an unsuccessful bid to recall Hatch on claims that his
defense of the sodomy law was inadequate.
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