Mississippi
- Statute: 97-29-59, Unnatural Intercourse. Unconstitutional
under Lawrence v. Texas.
- Penalty: 10 years
- Classification: Felony
- Restrictions: None
Statutes
§ 97-29-59. Unnatural intercourse.
Every person who shall be convicted of the detestable and abominable crime against
nature committed with mankind or with a beast shall be punished by imprisonment in the
penitentiary for a term of not more than ten years.
Sources: Codes Hutchinson's 1848 ch. 64 art. 12 Title 7(20); 1857 ch. 64 art. 238; 1871
§ 2701; 1880 § 2968; 1892 § 1321; 1906 § 1396; Hemingway's 1917 § 1139; 1930 § 1170;
1942 § 2413.
History
1890 Mississippi
adopts a unique provision in its new constitution to exclude the public from
trials for sodomy.
1942 The
Attorney General of Mississippi, revising the state’s code at the behest of
the legislature, retitles the sodomy provision from “Crime Against Nature”
to “Unnatural Intercourse” without editing the text of the law itself, and
later the Mississippi Supreme Court rules that this action expanded the reach
of the law.
News
- Mississippi Gay Group Boycotts City of Gulfport
- August 8, 2003
- Equality Mississippi Asks Cruise Ships to
Avoid Gulfport - August 4, 2003
- Mississippi Gays Call for City Boycott - July
31, 2003
- Equality Mississippi Calls on Gays and Lesbians
Around the Nation to Boycott Gulfport, Mississippi - July 30, 2003
- City Council Votes Against Sodomy Law - July
24, 2003
- Homophobic Gulfport City Councilman Introduces
Anti-Gay Resolution with Inaccurate Facts - July 17, 2003
- Equality Mississippi Takes Issue with Mississippi
Lieutenant Gubernatorial Candidate’s Remarks - July 13, 2003
- Ruling Invalidates State Law
Against ‘Unnatural Sex’ - The
Clarion-Ledger, June 26, 2003
- Town Hall Meeting in Mississippi Saturday on
Lambda Legal’s U.S. Supreme Court Case Challenging Texas’s Sodomy Law
- Equality Mississippi,
April 28, 2003
- Equality Mississippi Submits
Amicus Brief in Historic U.S. Supreme Court Case Brought By Lambda Legal
- January 16, 2003
- Court Refuses Discrimination Case - October
9, 2001
- Gay Groups Plan to Lobby Lawmakers - August
23, 2001
Advocates
Equality Mississippi
P.O. Box 6021
Jackson, MS 39288-6021
Phone: In Mississippi - 601.936.7673
Outside of Mississippi - 1.877.258.0077
Not One Dime -
Equality Mississippi's boycott campaign of Gulfport
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