natina
04-16-2013, 03:39 AM
The attorney general of Virginia, a rising star on the Christian right, is appealing a court ruling that threw out the Old Dominion’s anti-sodomy law. Ken Cuccinelli claims his action “is not about sexual orientation” but that he wants to use the law to catch sexual predators.
Attorney General Cuccinelli is the Republican candidate for governor in one of two states that hold gubernatorial elections this fall.
http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/files/2013/04/GettyImages_138593254-223x300.jpg (http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/files/2013/04/GettyImages_138593254-447x600.jpg) Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli gets "Defender of the Constitution" award at Conservative Political Action Conference. He is defending state "crimes against nature" law, wants to give fetuses legal rights at conception.
He has asked the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold Virginia’s “crimes against nature” law in which a 47-year-old man was convicted of criminal solicitation for asking oral sex from a minor. Due to soliciting oral sex, the crime falls under the anti-sodomy statute.
The Republican Party can’t hide Cuccinelli as it seeks to soften its image nationally. He’s on the ballot in a high-profile race.
Cuccinelli has stated: “My view is that homosexual acts, not homosexuality, but homosexual acts are wrong. They’re intrinsically wrong. And I think in a natural law-based country, it’s appropriate to have policies that reflect that . . . They don’t comport with natural law.
“I happen to think that it represents — to put it politely, I need my thesaurus to be polite — behavior that is not healthy to an individual and in aggregate is not healthy to society.”
He told the conservative Washington Times in 2004 that gays and lesbians want to “dismantle sodomy laws” and “get education about homosexuals and AIDS in public schools.”
(Actually, the U.S. Supreme Court dismantled sodomy laws with its 2003 Lawrence vs. Texas ruling, which ruled that private sexual acts between consenting adults are not the state’s to regulate. The high court ruling was cited by the lower court in throwing out the Virginia anti-sodomy statute.)
Cuccinelli has been a leader in the movement to put the state back into the bedroom.
He has backed legislation that would give legal rights to fetuses at the time of conception. He sought, as a legislator, to enact bills that would force the Old Dominion’s abortion clinics to shut down, and opposed a bill stating that contraception is not abortion.
“Most women who have abortions feel pressured into having them,” Cuccinelli said in 2009.
Cuccinelli and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are the two highest-profile Republicans on the ballot in this post-presidential election year. Cuccinelli will face former Democratic National Chairman Terry McAuliffe, a close associate of the Clintons, in the race for governor of Virginia.
Virginia's Sodomy Law
Virginia outlaws consensual sexual behavior between adults with 18.2-361, "Crimes against nature" (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/sodomy.html). This prohibits the making or consenting to such sexual contact a Class 6 felony (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/felony.html), punishable by a term of imprisonment not less than one year nor more than five years, or a confinement in jail for not more than twelve months and a fine of not more than $2,500, either or both.
Virginia also bans voluntary sexual intercourse between unmarried persons with code section 18.2-344 - Fornication (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/fornication.html). This is punishable as a Class 4 misdemeanor (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/misdemeanor.html#class4) which imposes a fine of not more than $250 upon a successful conviction.
Lewd and lascivious cohabitation (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/cohabitation.html) is also prohibited in Virginia and is punishable as a Class 3 misdemeanor (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/misdemeanor.html#class3) upon a first successful conviction which carries a fine of not more than $500. Subsequent convictions are punishable as Class 1 misdemeanors (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/misdemeanor.html#class1) which have a sentence of not more than twelve months in jail and a fine of not more than $2,500, either or both. All parties cohabiting are subject to prosecution.
Of particular note is Virginia's traditional model for sexual crimes in which the wife is considered property and is considered to always consent to the husband's sexual advances unless serious injury took place during the event. Virginia's rape law, 18.2-61 (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/rape.html) states that "no person shall be found guilty under this subsection unless, at the time of the alleged offense, (i) the spouses were living separate and apart, or (ii) the defendant caused serious physical injury to the spouse by the use of force or violence." Identical language exists for Virginia's Forcible sodomy law, 18.2-67.1 (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/forcible_sodomy.html).
History
When a constitutional challenge was made to Virginia's sodomy law in 1975 (403 F. Supp 1199), the court claimed the statute was legitimate and showed the State's interest merely because it had remained on the books for so long and was rooted in Judaic and Christian law.
Although a questionable law is not removed from question by the lapse of any prescriptive period, the longevity of the Virginia statute does testify to the State's interest and its legitimacy. It is not an upstart notion; it has ancestry going back to Judaic and Christian law.
(403 F.Supp 1199, 1202)
The court opinion goes on to quote Biblical passages as justification for the law.
Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
(Leviticus 18:22) If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
(Leviticus 20:13)
No other Biblical passages or Judaic teachings (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/scapegoat.html) were offered for a comparison of the applicability of those value systems to modern day reality.
Legislative attempts
Delegate L. Karen Darner (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/bills/l-karen-darner.html) has introduced two bills that attempt to legalize consentual acts between adults. The first bill, HB 1468 (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/bills/hb1468.html) would legalize "intimate sexual acts between consenting adults which are done in private and for noncommercial purposes." This concept was apparently too radical and the bill was stricken from the docket (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/bills/hb1468-3.html) by the Courts of Justice. HB 2718 (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/bills/hb2718.html) was then introduced which would decriminalize "the act of a person who carnally knows any male of female person who is 18 years of age or older." No action was taken by the Courts of Justice on this bill. Virginia Laws and Legislature (http://legis.state.va.us/) are available for public perusal.
http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2013/04/04/virginia-ag-doubles-down-on-anti-sodomy-law/
http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/
Attorney General Cuccinelli is the Republican candidate for governor in one of two states that hold gubernatorial elections this fall.
http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/files/2013/04/GettyImages_138593254-223x300.jpg (http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/files/2013/04/GettyImages_138593254-447x600.jpg) Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli gets "Defender of the Constitution" award at Conservative Political Action Conference. He is defending state "crimes against nature" law, wants to give fetuses legal rights at conception.
He has asked the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold Virginia’s “crimes against nature” law in which a 47-year-old man was convicted of criminal solicitation for asking oral sex from a minor. Due to soliciting oral sex, the crime falls under the anti-sodomy statute.
The Republican Party can’t hide Cuccinelli as it seeks to soften its image nationally. He’s on the ballot in a high-profile race.
Cuccinelli has stated: “My view is that homosexual acts, not homosexuality, but homosexual acts are wrong. They’re intrinsically wrong. And I think in a natural law-based country, it’s appropriate to have policies that reflect that . . . They don’t comport with natural law.
“I happen to think that it represents — to put it politely, I need my thesaurus to be polite — behavior that is not healthy to an individual and in aggregate is not healthy to society.”
He told the conservative Washington Times in 2004 that gays and lesbians want to “dismantle sodomy laws” and “get education about homosexuals and AIDS in public schools.”
(Actually, the U.S. Supreme Court dismantled sodomy laws with its 2003 Lawrence vs. Texas ruling, which ruled that private sexual acts between consenting adults are not the state’s to regulate. The high court ruling was cited by the lower court in throwing out the Virginia anti-sodomy statute.)
Cuccinelli has been a leader in the movement to put the state back into the bedroom.
He has backed legislation that would give legal rights to fetuses at the time of conception. He sought, as a legislator, to enact bills that would force the Old Dominion’s abortion clinics to shut down, and opposed a bill stating that contraception is not abortion.
“Most women who have abortions feel pressured into having them,” Cuccinelli said in 2009.
Cuccinelli and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are the two highest-profile Republicans on the ballot in this post-presidential election year. Cuccinelli will face former Democratic National Chairman Terry McAuliffe, a close associate of the Clintons, in the race for governor of Virginia.
Virginia's Sodomy Law
Virginia outlaws consensual sexual behavior between adults with 18.2-361, "Crimes against nature" (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/sodomy.html). This prohibits the making or consenting to such sexual contact a Class 6 felony (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/felony.html), punishable by a term of imprisonment not less than one year nor more than five years, or a confinement in jail for not more than twelve months and a fine of not more than $2,500, either or both.
Virginia also bans voluntary sexual intercourse between unmarried persons with code section 18.2-344 - Fornication (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/fornication.html). This is punishable as a Class 4 misdemeanor (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/misdemeanor.html#class4) which imposes a fine of not more than $250 upon a successful conviction.
Lewd and lascivious cohabitation (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/cohabitation.html) is also prohibited in Virginia and is punishable as a Class 3 misdemeanor (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/misdemeanor.html#class3) upon a first successful conviction which carries a fine of not more than $500. Subsequent convictions are punishable as Class 1 misdemeanors (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/misdemeanor.html#class1) which have a sentence of not more than twelve months in jail and a fine of not more than $2,500, either or both. All parties cohabiting are subject to prosecution.
Of particular note is Virginia's traditional model for sexual crimes in which the wife is considered property and is considered to always consent to the husband's sexual advances unless serious injury took place during the event. Virginia's rape law, 18.2-61 (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/rape.html) states that "no person shall be found guilty under this subsection unless, at the time of the alleged offense, (i) the spouses were living separate and apart, or (ii) the defendant caused serious physical injury to the spouse by the use of force or violence." Identical language exists for Virginia's Forcible sodomy law, 18.2-67.1 (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/forcible_sodomy.html).
History
When a constitutional challenge was made to Virginia's sodomy law in 1975 (403 F. Supp 1199), the court claimed the statute was legitimate and showed the State's interest merely because it had remained on the books for so long and was rooted in Judaic and Christian law.
Although a questionable law is not removed from question by the lapse of any prescriptive period, the longevity of the Virginia statute does testify to the State's interest and its legitimacy. It is not an upstart notion; it has ancestry going back to Judaic and Christian law.
(403 F.Supp 1199, 1202)
The court opinion goes on to quote Biblical passages as justification for the law.
Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
(Leviticus 18:22) If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
(Leviticus 20:13)
No other Biblical passages or Judaic teachings (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/scapegoat.html) were offered for a comparison of the applicability of those value systems to modern day reality.
Legislative attempts
Delegate L. Karen Darner (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/bills/l-karen-darner.html) has introduced two bills that attempt to legalize consentual acts between adults. The first bill, HB 1468 (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/bills/hb1468.html) would legalize "intimate sexual acts between consenting adults which are done in private and for noncommercial purposes." This concept was apparently too radical and the bill was stricken from the docket (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/bills/hb1468-3.html) by the Courts of Justice. HB 2718 (http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/bills/hb2718.html) was then introduced which would decriminalize "the act of a person who carnally knows any male of female person who is 18 years of age or older." No action was taken by the Courts of Justice on this bill. Virginia Laws and Legislature (http://legis.state.va.us/) are available for public perusal.
http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2013/04/04/virginia-ag-doubles-down-on-anti-sodomy-law/
http://www.sodomy.org/laws/virginia/