Law Regarding Same-sex Sexual Activity
The Utah sodomy law (Utah Code Section 76-5-403) criminalized same-sex sexual activity until 2003 when the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated all state sodomy laws with its landmark 6 to 3 opinion in Lawrence vs. Texas. The opinion stated that private consensual sexual conduct is protected by the due process and equal protection rights that are guaranteed by the United States Constitution.
The state sodomy law applied to heterosexuality and homosexuality as a Class B misdemeanor, and provided punishment of up to six months in jail and up to a $1,000 fine.
Openly gay Utah Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake, sponsored the bill S.B. 169 "Sodomy Amendments" unsuccessfully in 2007. The bill would have amended the state sodomy law by repealing its unconstitutional parts. The bill failed without consideration. The law remains published in the Utah Code.
After lobbying in 2011 by gay activist David Nelson, the Utah Department of Public Safety amended its administrative rule which restricted the issuance of the state concealed-firearm permit to individuals who were ever convicted of violating the state sodomy law.
Read more about this topic: LGBT Rights In Utah
Famous quotes containing the words law and/or activity:
“The greatest step forward would be to see that everything factual is already theory. The blueness of the sky reveals the basic law of chromatics. Don’t look for anything behind the phenomena, they themselves are the doctrine.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)
“In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)