Arkansas Sodomy Challenge to Proceed
UPI, June 23, 1998
NEW YORK--A gay and lesbian advocacy group says
an Arkansas judge has ruled that a lawsuit against the state's same-sex sodomy law may
proceed.
The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund in New York said today Chancery Court Judge
Collins Kilgore of Pulaski County, Ark., rejected arguments by the state that the law
imposes no real injury on the seven lesbian and gay plaintiffs.
Kilgore said in his written opinion that, "This court finds that plaintiffs
have
standing (to sue) where the challenged act affects conduct so intimate and private."
Lambda managing attorney Ruth Harlow said the civil rights group was heartened by the
ruling.
She said: "The defendant state officials did not succeed in blocking the
courthouse door to lesbian and gay Arkansans. As the judge recognized, our clients
deserved a hearing on the substance of their serious constitutional claims against the
law."
The Arkansas law prohibits oral and anal sex between two adults of the same sex. The
seven plaintiffs argued that since the law does not apply to heterosexuals, it made them
second class citizens in violation of equal protection guarantees under the constitution.
They also maintain that the law violates the right to privacy.
Lambda, which is representing the plaintiffs, says it recently helped overturn similar
laws in Montana, Tennessee and Kentucky.
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