Last edited: February 14, 2005


Kansas Gays Protest Sodomy Law

365Gay.com Newscenter, February 17, 2003

Topeka, Kansas—More than 100 protestors demonstrated against the Kansas sodomy law on the weekend in front of the Statehouse.

Kansas is one of four states which ban gay sex. The others are Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Both heterosexual and homosexual sodomy are illegal in nine states.

Holding signs that read "Proud to be a sodomite" and "State of Kansas out of our bedrooms," protesters demanded that the Kansas statute against anal and oral sex between gay couples be repealed.

Some protestors held pictures of Matthew Limon, who is serving 17 years and two months in prison for having sex as an 18-year-old with a 15 year old in February 2000.

If Limon’s partner had been female, under the state’s "Romeo and Juliet" law, the maximum prison sentence would have been one year and three months.

Meanwhile, two Texas men are appealing their 1998 convictions under that state’s law, claiming it unfairly targets gays. If the US Supreme Court finds the Texas law unconstitutional, the Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma statutes would likewise be invalidated.

"Hopefully the Supreme Court will rule in our favor and we won’t have to deal with legislators," said Steve Brown, president of the Kansas Democratic Party Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender Caucus.

Representatives of several national LGBT rights groups also attended the demonstration.

"Sodomy laws create a hostile environment for our family members, our loved ones and for you," said Samuel Thoron, national president of PFLAG, who came in from San Francisco for the rally.


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