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  • 2016-02-09 (xsd:date)
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  • Michigan Senate Passes Law Banning Sodomy? (en)
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  • On 28 January 2016, the Michigan state senate passed SB219, a bill from Republican senator Rick Jones (commonly known as Logan's Law) which amended a portion of the Michigan penal code pertaining to animal cruelty (primarily to crack down on the breeding, sale, and use of animals for fighting and baiting activities such as dogfights), by preventing anyone convicted of animal abuse from owning another animal for five years: However, the law also applies to acts of bestiality, and acts of both bestiality and sodomy are addressed by the same portion of the state penal code. Thus this bill to amend a section the Michigan Penal Code pertaining to animal cruelty drew national public notice due to its inclusion of a sentence establishing it as a felony for anyone to commit the abominable and detestable crime against nature either with mankind or with any animal: This passage prompted spurred dozens of publications to pen articles reporting that the Michigan senate had passed a bill that outlawed sodomy (i.e., any sexual act other than vaginal intercourse between opposite-sex partners). Other publications took the rumor a step further and maintained that there was a new law in Michigan forbidding anal and oral sex. When the rumor hit social media, it grew even more exaggerated, with some posts claiming that adults engaging in anal sex would be sentenced to prison for 15 years. While it is true that the Michigan Senate recently passed a bill that included language referring to a person who commits crimes against nature with mankind, several misconceptions about this piece of legislation have been widely spread: First, this isn't a new law. The Michigan Penal Code was first written in 1931, and it included the language in question long before the January 2016 senate vote of amending portions related to animal cruelty. Second, while this bill did pass the state senate by a 38-1 vote, it has not yet been passed by the state house of representatives or signed into law by the governor. Finally, in 2003 the Supreme Court struck down Texas' sodomy law in 2003 and invalidated similar sodomy laws in 13 other states. Although several states (including Michigan) still have laws on the books criminalizing sodomy, these laws cannot be enforced. GOP Senator Rick Jones, one of the sponsors of SB219, said that the language referring to crimes against nature was purposefully left intact in order to give the bill a chance to pass through the senate: The Michigan Penal Code still contains language stating that a person who commits crimes against nature with mankind is guilty of a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. While this language is outdated and in direct opposition of the Supreme Court's Lawrence v. Texas ruling, it still requires the efforts of lawmakers to be removed. When the Michigan Senate passed SB219, the senators opted for reasons of practicality to focus on implementing stronger animal cruelty laws and ignore language referring to a unenforceable, decades-old sodomy law. (en)
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