4A • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2003
EDITORIAL BOARD
Join protest to change unjust law on sodomy
To go around talking about sodomy will leave few without cringed faces.
The current laws against sodomy are discriminatory to homosexuals. The Lawrence Womyn's Empowerment Action Coalition is organizing a protest of the Kansas anti-sodomy law at 1 p.m. tomorrow on the south steps of the state Capitol. It is an unconstitutional law because it violates rights to privacy.
In a college atmosphere where talking about sexuality is normal and encouraged, sodomy is still a taboo. It is a vulgar word by definition: "any of various forms of sexual intercourse held to be unnatural or abnormal, especially anal intercourse or bestiality," according to The American Heritage Dictionary.
Public lewdness is one thing, but police entering couples' homes and busting them for being sexually intimate is ridiculous.
Consensual sodomy between consenting adults of the same sex is criminalized in four states. In one of the states, Texas, police entered the apartment of two homosexual men in 1998 because a neighbor falsely reported an armed intruder while the two men were having sex. Talk about blatant discrimination.
Ruth Harlow, who represented the men in Texas of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, said states should not have the power to go into the bedrooms of two consenting adults and arrest them, and these laws were used to justify discrimination.
The state of Kansas doesn't have a law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, and has a criminal law prohibiting consensual sex between same-sex couples. That's basically saying it's not OK to be gay.
Forthose who are, it's better not to tell anyone about it or risk arrest for being who they are in private.
When it comes to consensual sex between two adults, it is a beautiful thing and they shouldn't be punished for it. Sex is definitely an issue at the University and college campuses around the country.
Sodomy may seem like a dirty word, but all it really means is unconventional sex.
Join WEAC to show the Legislature that we won't tolerate unjust laws.
Jon Ralston for the editorial board
LYDA'S VIEW
Kristi Henderson editor
864-4854 or khenderson@kansan.com
TALKTOUS
Jenna Goepfert and Justin Henning
preparing culture
864-4854 or. jgeopefft@kansan.com and
jhenneng@kansan.com
Leah Shaffer
readers' representative
864-4810 or lashaffer@kansan.com
opinion editors
864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com
PERSPECTIVE
Amanda Sears and Lindsay Hanson opinion editors
Eric Kelting business manager 4358 or adsales@kansan.com
Malcolm Gibson
Christine Robinson opinion@hansan.com
In November, while giving presentations at Washburn University and at the University of Kansas about the history of Kansas' sodomy statutes, I met two women, both of whom work for the Topeka Police Department. Both of these women told me when they interviewed for their current jobs, they had to submit to a battery of questions while being attached to a polygraph machine. Each of these women — who do not know one other — was asked: "Have you ever committed sodomy with a member of the same sex?" How many of us would not have jobs if we had to submit to this question? What possible legitimate state interest is served by making criminals out of gay, lesbian and bisexual people who choose to engage in such activity in the privacy of their
harmful to its citizens in ways you might not know about.
Sarah Jantz
retail sales manager
864-4358 or adsales@kansan.com
Anti-sodomy law targets homosexuals
Malcolm Gibson
general manager and news adviser
864-7667 or mgibson@kansan.com
sales and marketing adviser
864-7666 or mfisher@kansan.com
GUEST COMMENTARY
Matt Fisher
Kansas is one of four states in the United States where oral and anal sex between consenting adults is illegal only between members of the same sex. The other states are Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. This law is blatantly discriminatory and unjustifiable from any reasonable standpoint. The criminalization of private, consenting adult sexual activity is an embarrassment to Kansas and
Two weeks ago, The University Daily Kansan featured a sex columnist who gave instructions on how to perform oral sex on a male. Oral sex between consenting adults in the privacy of their homes is illegal in the state of Kansas, but only between members of the same sex. Before 1969, oral and anal sex between consenting adults was illegal for everyone; however, it is now legal between members of the opposite sex.
Consensual oral and anal sex between members of the same sex is included in Kansas' definition of "criminal sodomy" and the penalty is a prison term of as much as six months and possibly a fine of as much as $1,000. In addition, if you are convicted of consensual sodomy with a member of the same sex, you can expect to lose your job and custody of your children. This is outrageous.
If it doesn't, it's up to those of us who object to this ridiculous, harmful law to ask our legislators to justify the legiti-
In 1986 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bowers v. Hardwick that Georgia's same-sex only sodomy law was not a violation of the Constitution. Since then, Georgia has repealed its law; however, the Kansas courts and Legislature have reaffirmed the legitimacy of its sodomy law numerous times against legal challenges. Former Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell, who in 1986 sided with the 5-4 majority opinion, said after he retired that he "probably made a mistake" voting with the majority on the decision.
own homes? The only answer I can offer to this question is that there is not any legitimate state interest; it is an expression of legislative bigotry and a justification for discriminatory treatment.
Next month, the Supreme Court has an opportunity to reverse its opinion on this issue. The highest court of the land has agreed to hear the case against Texas' same-sex only sodomy law, which will invalidate Kansas' law against consensual sodomy if the court decides that Texas' homosexual conduct law is unconstitutional.
macy of criminalizing private, consenting sexual activity between members of the same sex and to persuade the legislators to reconsider their position. We need to explain to our representatives how this law affects us in our daily lives.
The Womyn's Empowerment Action Coalition at the University has organized a protest of Kansas' discriminatory sodomy laws. Lea Burgess Carland, a coalition member, and I are also working with a committee of Kansas state legislators and attorneys to introduce legislation to decriminalize private, consenting adult sexual activity for everyone if the Supreme Court does not invalidate Texas' sodomy law.
I urge you to write letters to the editors of newspapers in Kansas about this issue and to join us at the Capitol's south steps from 1 to 3 p.m., Saturday to make our voices heard. Speakers from local and national organizations will be there.
Together, we can send a message to our legislators that the time has come for Kansas to abandon another form of institutionalized discrimination and end its legislative bigotry.
Robinson, Salisbury, Md., recently earned her doctorate in sociology.
made my day.
Free forAll
--do not tip waitresses because they bring you food or take your order. If that were the case you'd be expected to tip the drive-thru guy. You tip the waitress because you do not have to clean up one single piece of trash. You can leave as big a mess as you want and you don't have to clean it up. Did you know a buffet waitress only makes $3.20 an hour? That's because she should be making tips cleaning up your table.
Call 864-0500
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For more comments, go to www.kansan.com.
This is to the guy that broke into our apartment and stole our PlayStation 2, all our games and half our DVDs. Not only did you steal the only thing I got for Christmas, but you stole from my girlfriend, my two roommates and four of our friends. You bastard!
This is to the guy that walked into the telephone pole while looking at my legs. You
Valentine's Day is expensive when you're dating two girls.
The night campus express bus is a ghost bus. It's driven by the headless bus driver, has brakes that sounds like moans of the undead, and you're unsure whether the steam from the windows is due to the night fog or the escaping souls.
I just wanted to set the record straight. You
do not tip waitresses because they bring you food or take your order. If that were the case you'd be expected to tip the drive-thru guy. You tip the waitress because you do not have to clean up one single piece of trash. You can leave as big a mess as you want and you don't have to clean it up. Did you know a buffet waitress only makes $3.20 an hour? That's because she should be making tips cleaning up your table.
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with a peace rally and entertainment at the South Park gazebo.
Gas at an all-time high, the economy at an all-time low. Bin Laden is still alive. Thanks very much, Mr. Clinton.
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So I'm sitting in class and the roll sheet comes around, and by this kid's name he had written in parentheses 'Love Child of Jane Seymour and Billy Blanks.' Who does that? I want to downsize this kid's face with a shovel.
Here's a downfall to living across the street from the bars: You build up such an immunity to people banging on your door that you don't realize when your building is on fire and it's the police trying to save your life.
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Bowling for Columbine, Liberty Hall. Go Now.
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For the love of everything pure and holy, please fix the elevators in Jayhawk Tower A.
So I have this box of candy hearts, and there's one that says 'Book Club.' I don't know about you, but that doesn't get my motor going.
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You know it's going to be a bad day when you wake up and almost fall out of your lofted bed.
Saturday's peace march part of worldwide effort against war
University of Kansas students have a unique opportunity to be part of what promises to be the single largest global day of peaceful protest in world history. A march and rally is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Saturday in Lawrence.
This event was first planned last fall in Europe as a day of action against war in Iraq, but it has now spread around the world. Hundreds of thousands of people will be in the streets everywhere.
Looking at the Web site www.unitedforpeace.org, you can see lists of more than a hundred participating cities in the United States, as well as hundreds more in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America, and Oceania. The list of host cities is growing rapidly.
GUEST COMMENTARY
Frank Janzen opinion@kansan.com
Here in Kansas, students from Tabor, Hesston and Bethel Colleges will be on the move in Newton. In Emporia and Manhattan, college students will continue their weekly vigils. In Missouri, students will join many others in the streets of Columbia, Rolla, Cape Girardeau and St. Louis.
Around the United States, college students are joining peace groups in Denver, Chicago, San Francisco, New York and a hundred other cities, big and small.
Cities are participating around the globe.
Now, KU students are encouraged to join the movement. The Lawrence Coalition for Peace and Justice and the Black Cat Collective, among others, are sponsoring a march and rally for Peace this Saturday. They are expecting 1,000 people to take part.
KU students and others are asked to assemble at the train park, Sixth and Kentucky streets, at 11:15 a.m. Saturday for a peaceful march down Massachusetts Street. The march will end
CITIES AROUND THE WORLD JOINING FORCES
In the United States: Denver, Chicago, San Francisco, New York and others
Worldwide: Amsterdam, Netherlands;
Antwerp, Belgium; Athens, Greece;
Bangkok, Thailand; Barcelona, Spain;
Beirut, Lebanon; Belfast, Northern Ireland;
Berlin, Brussels, Belgium; Budapest,
Hungary; Cairo, Egypt; Calgary; Cape Town,
South Africa; Copenhagen, Denmark;
Dublin, England; Edmonton, Alberta;
Join the march and show the world where Lawrence stands. You will be
Glasgow, Scotland; Helsinki, Finland; Hong Kong, Istanbul, Turkey; Jakarta, Bali; Lisbon, Portugal; London; Los Angeles and Luxembourg
Groups working against war on Iraq:
American Friends Service Committee,
Jewish Voice for Peace, Green Party of the
United States, www.MoveOn.org. Not In
Our Name Project, Veterans Against the
Iraq War, Voices in the Wilderness,
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee, Fellowship for Reconciliation,
and Global Exchange
V
glad you did.
Janzen is a Lawrence graduate student in education.