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Last edited: April 18, 2007
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North Carolina
- Statute: 14-177, Crime Against Nature. Unconstitutional
under Lawrence v. Texas.
- Penalty: 3 years
- Classification: Felony
- Restrictions: None
Statute
14-177. Crime against nature
If any person shall commit the crime against nature, with mankind or beast, he shall be
punished as a Class I felon.
History
1854 North
Carolina becomes the last state in the nation to abolish references from its
sodomy law to the old English legal custom of benefit of clergy.
1856 A
guidebook for justices of the peace on North Carolina advocates the Napoleonic
Code for the state. In France, the Napoleonic Code had decriminalized
consensual sodomy.
1954 A law
review recommends amending the state’s sodomy law to exclude married couples
from the statute’s coverage, but no one else.
1964 Federal
judge J. Braxton Craven issues a sarcastic opinion ridiculing the North
Carolina sodomy law, calling into question trial procedures in sodomy cases,
the penalty prescribed by the law, and even the wisdom of outlawing consensual
sodomy.
-
Greensboro's
Untold Story: The Gay Scare of '57 - Greensboro
News-Record, September 17, 2006
On Feb. 4, 1957, a Guilford County grand jury emerged from its closed
session and issued a bundle of indictments of a scope unlike any before or
since - against 32 men accused of being homosexual.
After witnesses named the men during police interrogations, the suspects
were tried one by one in a Greensboro courtroom for crimes against nature,
almost exclusively with consenting adults.
Repeal Bills
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 1999
SENATE BILL 759
Short Title: Sexual Privacy Act. (Public)
Sponsors: Senators Kinnaird; Gulley and Lucas.
Referred to: Judiciary II.
April 5, 1999
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR PRIVATE SEXUAL ACTIVITY
BETWEEN CONSENTING ADULTS.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. G.S. 14-177 reads as rewritten:
"§ 14-177. Crime against nature.
(a) If any person shall commit the crime against nature, with mankind or beast, he
shall be punished as a Class I felon.
(b) This section shall not apply if the act occurs between consenting adults in privacy
and is not for hire."
Section 2. This act is effective when it becomes law.
News
- Mopping
Up Operation on Sex Crimes - Leonard
Link, November 6, 2006
Today Westlaw turned up an August 25 opinion by Presiding Superior Court
Judge Benjamin Alford of Pender County, North Carolina, declaring
unconstitutional NCGS 14-184, which provides "If any man and woman,
not being married to each other, shall lewdly and lasciviously associate,
bed and cohabit together, they shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor:
Provided, that the admissions or confessions of one shall not be received
in evidence against the other." Hobbs v. Smith, 2006 WL
3103008. In the North Carolina statutes, the title for this
provision is "Fornication and Adultery" - a bit surprising,
since the crime, as described, while possibly pertaining to situations
involving both of those, is really just open cohabitation by an
opposite-sex unmarried couple.
- Greensboro's
Untold Story: The Gay Scare of '57 - Greensboro
News-Record, September 17, 2006
On Feb. 4, 1957, a Guilford County grand jury emerged from its closed
session and issued a bundle of indictments of a scope unlike any before or
since - against 32 men accused of being homosexual.
After witnesses named the men during police interrogations, the suspects
were tried one by one in a Greensboro courtroom for crimes against nature,
almost exclusively with consenting adults.
- Charlotte Attorney Calls for Change in North
Carolina Laws Governing Public Sex - November 13, 2003
- North Carolina Still Enforcing Sodomy Law -
August 27, 2003
- N.C. Sodomy Law Still Enforced Despite Ruling on
Texas Measure - August 25, 2003
- North Carolina Judge Rules State Sodomy Law
Unconstitutional - July 15, 2003
- Last Vestige of North Carolina Sodomy Law
‘Unconstitutional’ - July 14, 2003
- Gay Community Warned of Extremist Group's Plans
- July 11, 2003
- North Carolina Police Continue to Lay Sodomy
Charges - July 7, 2003
- Sodomy Arrest Guidelines Revised - July 6,
2003
- N.C. Gay Rights Groups Applaud
Supreme Court’s Sodomy Ruling - June 26, 2003
- Benefits Advocates Criticize Decision - Durham
Herald-Sun, March 16, 2003
- Lawmakers Back Away From Penalizing or Protecting
Gays - October 8, 2001
- Repeal of North Carolina Sodomy Law Introduced
- March 13, 2001
- Push Made for Change in North Carolina Sodomy Law
- March 13, 2001
- North Carolina Pressed to Amend Sodomy Law -
March 13, 2001
-
Changes Sought in State Sex Law - March 9, 2001
- Gay-Rights Activists Prepared for Session
Campaign to Change Laws - March 4, 2001
- Atmosphere Improving for Gays in North Carolina Legislature -
January 11, 2001
- North Carolina Pride in Durham - June 13, 2000
- James Asks State To Probe ‘Felons’ Remark by Warren
- May 14, 1999
- North Carolina Panel Hears Sodomy Reform - May 12, 1999
- Repeal of State’s Sodomy Law Doubtful - May 12, 1999
- Felony Law on Sodomy Debated - May 12, 1999
- Gay Advocates Get Hearing In Senate Committee - May 11, 1999
- Homosexuals Rally For New Laws - March 24, 1999
- Gays Lobby For Changes in Hate Crime Law - March 23, 1999
- North Carolina County Undoes Anti-Gay Funding Bans - February
24, 1999
- Mitchell County Sheriff to Forfeit Pay, Makes Apology for Tape
Recording - September 27, 1997
- Sheriff’s Apology Won’t Do, Gay Rights Advocates Say
- September 6, 1997
Editorials
- Letter: Higher Court Could Overturn
Fatherly Advice - Joy Fincannon in the Wilmington
Star, July 6, 2003
-
Letter: Repeal the Law - March 23, 2001
- The Answer Isn’t Always a New Crime on the Books -
Greensboro News & Record,
March 26, 1999
- Letter: In Response to "Felony Law on Sodomy
Debated", May 26, 1999
- Mixing Legislators, Leviticus - Rob Christensen in
Raleigh News & Observer,
March 24, 1999
- Letter: James Misreads Ruling on Homosexual Parents -
August 16, 1998
- Letter: Sodomy Laws Aren’t Limited to Homosexual Acts
- August 16, 1998
- Letter: Court Is Right; Felons Make Unfit Parents -
August 10, 1998
Advocates
Equality North Carolina
PO Box 28768
Raleigh, NC 27611-8768
(919) 829-0343
Raymond A.
Warren
309 East Morehead Street Suite 150
Post Office Box 36071
Charlotte, NC 28236
Tel: 704-714-4344, Fax: 866-779-3014
Ray@RayWarrenLaw.com
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