Startling to open my Baton Rouge newspaper this morning and see that the police in that city are arresting gay men for agreeing to have sex with other men. In sting operations, if a gay man agreed to have CONSENSUAL sex with an undercover police officer at a PRIVATE residence, with NO mention of money exchanging hands, then the gay man was arrested. Clearly a violation of SCOTUS opinion invalidating sodomy laws. However, in Louisiana the anti-sodomy law is still on the books, so police department spox said they have to enforce it. And these sting operations and arrests have been going on for years! I truly live in one of the most backward states in the nation, and this has to be persecution. I also can't understand why lawsuits haven't been filed....except the article states that the gay men were not "out." So, clearly "not-out" men were targeted, knowing they would not cause trouble? The article:
http://theadvocate.com/...
Just a few paragraphs:
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"There had been no sex-for-money deal between the two. The men did not agree to have sex in the park, a public place. And the count against the man was based on a part of Louisiana’s anti-sodomy law struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court a decade ago.
The July 18 arrest is among at least a dozen cases since 2011 in which a Sheriff’s Office task force used the unenforceable law to ensnare men who merely discussed or agreed to have consensual sex with an undercover agent, an investigation by The Advocate has found."
snip
“This is a law that is currently on the Louisiana books, and the sheriff is charged with enforcing the laws passed by our Louisiana Legislature,” Hicks said. “Whether the law is valid is something for the courts to determine, but the sheriff will enforce the laws that are enacted.”
"Moore noted that public sex acts and the solicitation of “unnatural carnal copulation” for money remain illegal. But those elements were lacking from these 12 cases, and most of the men were arrested after agreeing to have sex away from the park at a private residence."
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What SCOTUS opinions? We don't need no stinkin' SCOTUS opinions!