Virginia’s Attorney General Thinks Oral and Anal Sex Should Be Illegal

Virginia Attorney General and Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli wants to legislate what goes on between your sheets, as evidenced by a petition he filed with a federal appeals court to keep the state’s anti-sodomy laws on the books.

Using the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision as its basis, a three-judge panel ruled last month that the portion of Virginia’s “Crimes Against Nature” statute outlawing oral and anal sex between consenting adults is unconstitutional.

But that’s not acceptable to Cuccinelli, who wants the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider the ruling.

The Washington Blade:

The March 12 ruling of the appeals court’s three-judge panel overturned a lower court decision upholding the conviction of a 37-year-old man charged in 2005 with soliciting a 17-year-old woman to engage in oral sex. No sexual encounter took place, records show.

The Attorney General’s office argued that the Supreme Court’s Lawrence decision didn’t apply to cases involving minors. But 4th Circuit Appeals Court Judge Robert King, who wrote the majority opinion, said the Lawrence decision rendered the Virginia sodomy statue “facially” or completely unconstitutional.

He stated other laws could be used to prosecute an adult for engaging in sex with a minor and that the Virginia General Assembly would likely have authority under the Lawrence decision to pass a new law specifically outlawing sodomy between an adult and a minor.

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— Posted by Tracy Bloom.