Virginia Attorney General Says Sodomy Always Illegal
Advocate,
Weekend, July 1-3, 2000
Oral sex, whether between a heterosexual couple or a gay couple, in public or in
private, is always illegal, according to a court brief written by Virginia’s attorney
general. The Roanoke Times reports that Assistant Attorney General John McLees argues in
the brief, filed in the case of ten men convicted under the state’s sodomy law of
having sex in a Roanoke, Va., park, that it does not matter whether the sex is consensual
or where it took place. "Whatever may be the privacy rights of consenting married
adults acting in private, these defendants certainly did not fit into that category and
cannot ride on the constitutional coattails of those who do." However, McLees said
that the law still applies to everyone, including married couples who engage in oral sex.
"Their rights can be asserted in court in their own trials in the unlikely event that
they are ever prosecuted for engaging in oral sex in private." The ten men convicted
of having sex in a Roanoke park are challenging the constitutionality of the state’s
sodomy law. The case is expected to be decided by the end of the year.
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