From: Blythe Systems Subject: DC:Sodomy Statute Invoked in gay theater raid Via The NY Transfer News Service 718-448-2358, 718-448-2683 from The (Electronic) Gay Community Magazine - February 28 1992 LIFESTYLE: The Gay 90's D.C. SODOMY STATUTE INVOKED AS COPS RAID GAY THEATER WASHINGTON, DC (EGCM) -- District of Columbia police invoked the city's archaic sodomy law when 15 officers raided a gay theater and arrested 11 patrons and staff members for sodomy. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) denounced the use of the law and participated in a protest the next day outside the city's municipal building organized by several local gay groups. The D.C. sodomy law is a felony and bans all oral and anal heterosexual or homosexual contact, even between consenting adults in the privacy of their own home. However, sodomy laws are routinely used to harass and intimidate gay and lesbian people, said NGLTF Program Organizer Robin Kane. "The use of the intrusive, discriminatory law in any situation is an affront to gay and lesbian people, who are automatically sex criminals under the current law," said Kane. "Enforcement of the sodomy law at this time is especially epidemic of hate crimes against our community." Kane noted that the DC Police Department has not yet fully enforced the 1989 Bias Related Crimes Act, which would protect gay and lesbian victims of hate crimes. Relations between the police and the gay and lesbian community have been especially strained in DC since last Halloween. At that time, police made several arrests while clearing a holiday street celebration in a gay neighborhood. Witnesses reported that police used excessive force and shouted anti-gay epithets during the sweep, prompting both the mayor and police chief to publicly apology to the gay community. NGLTF called on the DC City Council to repeal the sodomy law and stop police harassment of the gay and lesbian community. A bill to repeal the sodomy law has been tied up in the city council since 1985. Meanwhile, in Texas a district court judge struck down the Dallas Police Department's use of the sodomy law as justification for a ban on lesbian and gay officers. The decision was heralded by NGLTF as a direct blow against Texas' homosexual-only sodomy law. Mica England, a lesbian who moved to Dallas in 1989 after being recruited for the police force, was rejected by the police department when she disclosed to interviewers her sexual orientation. Because the Texas sodomy statute makes all gay and lesbian people unconvicted criminals, police officials said, they are therefore ineligible for serving on the police force. Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund represented England in her successful challenge to the police ban. The Dallas Police Department announced it will appeal the decision. In his ruling, Judge Larry Fuller of the Travis County District Court stated that the ban on gay officers violated the right to privacy guaranteed by the Texas state constitution. The judge also invoked a 1991 Austin district court ruling that struck down the state sodomy law on the same grounds. That ruling only applies to the Austin district, but is currently on appeal with a decision expected in the spring. In addition to being uses as a rationale to ban gay people from police departments and other law enforcement and security jobs, sodomy laws are often used to deny gay and lesbian parents custody of their children. "Like the Dallas Police Department, judges in many states reason that because gay people are unconvicted criminals under existing sodomy laws, they are unfit parents," said NGLTF's Kane. Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia have sodomy laws on the books, with nine of those states banning only homosexual sodomy and the rest prohibiting both homosexual and heterosexual sodomy. Court cases which challenge the sodomy laws are pending in Texas, Michigan, and Kentucky. For more information contact: The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force; 1734 Fourteenth Street NW; Washington, DC 20009; Voice 202-332-6483; Fax 202-332-0207. Be sure to mention in your correspondence that you heard of this through The Electronic Gay Community Magazine. ### The entire contents of The Electronic Gay Community Magazine are Copyright 1992 by The Land of Awes Computer Information System (telephone 316-269-0913 Voice, 316-269-4208 FAX/BBS) but may be reproduced by any means without permission from the publishers provided that this copyright notice remains with each article.