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"From
the Commonwealth to the White House, it's been a banner year for the blow-job.
After lurking in the shadows of public discourse for most of its 200-year
existence, Virginia's sodomy law has stolen headlines repeatedly in the
last 12 months. First, up in Arlington, ex-NBC sportscaster Marv Albert
lost it all -- his job, his image, his hair-piece -- during a salacious
assault trial in which felony sodomy charges temporarily threatened to put
him behind bars" (C-Ville Weekly, October 6-12, 1998).
"This spring, Charlottesville authorities -- taking a
cue from Richmond police -- handed out three felony
charges (instead of misdemeanors) to men who solicited fellatio from
undercover officers posing as prostitutes. Then in August, Albemarle County
Police launched a week-long sex sting at the Ivy Creek Natural Area that
slapped seven men with sodomy charges for engaging in oral sex with other
men in a public bathroom. Virginia's sodomy statue, 'crimes against nature,'
prescribes that violators can receive up to five years in prison, regardless
of marital status or sexual orientation, even if the acts take place in
private" (C-Ville Weekly, October 6-12, 1998).
"But none of these incidents have caused a greater stir than
the dangerous liaisons between President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. (Lucy
for them, the District of Columbia repealed its sodomy law in 1993, two
years before Lewinsky came to the White House.) Lurid details of oral sex
in the Oval Office have hit the front pages and television screens with
such force that previously taboo discussions of sex and privacy have jumped
into the most sacred of American venues: the nightly news, the workplace
water cooler, and the family dinner table" (C-Ville Weekly, October
6-12, 1998).
"When a small group of state lobbyists and legislators try once
again to repeal Virginia's sodomy law this fall, they will have a chance
to prove their decades-old hunch. Namely, they hope that as public discussions
of sex become more frank and prevalent, more people who privately condemn
the dodomy law will start to condemn it publicly. Implicit in that hunch
is that most citizens and most lawmakers dislike the archaic law, but are
just afraid to say so, given Virginia's conservative tradition" (C-Ville
Weekly, October 6-12, 1998).
"'Virginia has always taken to change a bit slower than most
other places,' (Virginia ACLU
executive director Kent) Willis says. 'So repeal will take more time and
more energy because frank discussions of sex-related issues in Richmond
are rare.' Frank discussions of gay and lesbian concerns are also rare in
that tobacco town where the main obstacle to sodomy-law repeal is none other
than homophobia itself. Critics have charged for decades that 'crimes against
nature' is nothing more than a Biblically-informed
codification of prejudice against gays and lesbians." (C-Ville
Weekly, October 6-12, 1998).
"The best evidence of that opinion came in 1993, when the Virginia
Supreme Court declared Sharon Bottoms an unfit parent because she admitted
to engaging in oral sex ('felonious behavior,' in the words of the Court)
with her lesbian lover. Bottoms lost custody of her son even though behind-closed-doors
sex practices are almost never an issue in custody cases involving straight
parents. Liberal lobby groups say homosexuals can't enjoy full citizenship
so long as the state criminalizes all non-coital sex acts. Conservatives
have rebutted that there is no constitutional right to commit sodomy"
(C-Ville Weekly, October 6-12, 1998).
"During the next legislative session, democrats from Northern
Virginia plan to re-introduce a bill that would re-write the dodomy law
so that traditionally illegal sex acts would no longer be felonies when
committed by people over the age of 18. C-VILLE
asked local legislators how they would vote if such a bill ever made
it to the Assembly floor. 'I would go ahead and vote for that bill. It's
probably a law whose time has come. But bills like this, just like the hate-crimes
bill we've had, never seem to make it out of committee,' (said) Del. Mitch
Van Yahres, Democrat, 57th District. ' ...' (As usual, [Del.] Paul Harris
[Republican, 58th District] did not return C-VILLE's phone calls.) 'It's
not a good idea to speculate on legislation unless I have it in front of
me. But I have gone on record as opposing discrimination of any kind,' (said)
Sen. Emily Couric, Democrat,
25th District" (C-Ville Weekly, October 6-12, 1998).
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