It’s Still Illegal To Be Gay In Kansas, Why Hasn’t It Been Fixed?

It’s still illegal to be gay in Kansas.

Kansas Reflector: That’s right. State law defines several categories of criminal sodomy, including “Sodomy between persons who are 16 or more years of age and members of the same sex.” It’s a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in prison.

This Kansas law makes being gay illegal. Legislators could fix it, but homophobia runs deep. https://t.co/1ImenwcZt7 via @KansasReflector

This is so completely unacceptable it leaves me speechless.

Kansas, please get your sh*t together.

— Mela Storm #Resistance! NO SURRENDER (@StormMela) February 3, 2022

Are you gay? Have you every had intimate relations with another gay person in Kansas? Congratulations! You’re a criminal. These laws once flourished throughout the United States, and they were a tool of discrimination against LBGTQ people. In Kansas, folks were prosecuted under these laws for no other reason than being themselves.

Specifically, sex between same-gendered adults would be a misdemeanor criminal offense punishable by up to six months in prison.

In a case called Lawrence v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court put an end to this nonsense. But despite calls to remove a flagrantly unconstitutional law from the books, former Gov. Sam Brownback didn’t recommend doing so in 2012 when his administration highlighted 51 measures for repeal.

Or as the New York Times delicately put it: “Mr. Brownback, who is a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage on religious grounds, declined to comment, and his spokeswoman would not say whether he would support repealing the law against same-sex sodomy, a misdemeanor that officially carries a prison sentence of up to six months.”

Intercourse between same-sex couples in Kansas is still a crime, even though a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2003 made such laws unconstitutional.

???? Hear about efforts to repeal the state statute on Kansas City Today, available wherever you get podcasts. https://t.co/LQdh14ZfYM

— KCUR (@kcur) February 3, 2022

A recent story from KCUR in Kansas City lays out the current state of affairs. Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita, has introduced a simple bill, HB 2009, that deletes the phrase I quoted above. It’s unfortunately languishing in a committee packed with other important bills.

Wrote KCUR’s Blaise Mesa: “The Kansas Bureau of Investigation says nobody has been convicted of same-sex criminal sodomy for at least five years. Still, Thomas Witt, executive director of Equality Kansas, said the provision has been used to discriminate against LGBTQ people even if they weren’t convicted.

“Witt said Kansans were arrested for same-sex relations even after the Supreme Court’s ruling, but the last time he heard that happened was in 2013.”

Can you believe that? No, really, can you believe that?

An unenforceable, unconstitutional Kansas law has been deployed to harass your fellow Kansans. Authorities did so as recently as nine years ago, a full decade after Lawrence v. Texas. Repealing this bigoted law can’t come soon enough.

KBUR: The bill doesn’t change other portions of the sodomy law, and Carmichael says law enforcement has been supportive of the changes for years, yet nothing has happened.

Rep. Stephen Owens, a Hesston Republican who chairs the committee scrutinizing the latest legislation, said he hadn’t reviewed its details or decided whether to hold hearings on the bill. Owens said the committee will deal with other, higher-priority bills first.

kansas moment???????? /s pic.twitter.com/urtmUJoB2O

— ????️‍⚧️ || cola is gay (@c0la____) February 2, 2022

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation says nobody has been convicted of same-sex criminal sodomy for at least five years. Still, Thomas Witt, executive director of Equality Kansas, said the provision has been used to discriminate against LGBTQ people even if they weren’t convicted.

they’re so close to tell us we aren’t allowed to be gay

— Éros | KANSAS DAY 😀 (@rockmelvr) February 2, 2022

Witt said Kansans were arrested for same-sex relations even after the Supreme Court’s ruling, but the last time he heard that happened was in 2013. The criminal sodomy law also prevented LGBTQ law enforcement officers from being sworn in because violating the statute was a violation of their professional standards. Those standards were later amended to allow LGBTQ officers.

Sharon Brett, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, said outdated state laws are common, but anti-LGBTQ laws send a message to people that they aren’t welcomed in the state.

“It’s a deliberate decision not to amend the code,” Brett said, “to get rid of these provisions that have been ruled unconstitutional.”