Montana Republican state representative Ken Peterson is quite aware of Lawrence v. Texas. And, for that matter, he’s also quite aware of Gryczan v. State of Montana, the 1997 ruling in which the Montana Supreme Court struck down the state’s sodomy law.
Two higher court rulings have rendered the anti-gay law unenforceable, but 14 years after the first ruling, the statute remains on the books. As I diaried recently, Montana’s Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee blocked in March what should have been (in an ideal world) a non-controversial bill that would have scrubbed the books of the outdated sodomy law. The state senate had previously passed the bill, but after much (horrifyingly anti-gay) testimony, the House committee, which Peterson chairs, decided it wasn’t time to move beyond the pre-Gryczan days.
In case you missed that diary, here’s a sample of the disgusting testimony heard by the committee:
And so Montana’s criminalization of homosexuality remains on the books for the foreseeable future. Which pleases Peterson. As I said, he’s perfectly aware of Lawrence and Gryczan. But, as he explains to those wondering why he’s so dead-set against removing the unenforceable statute from the books, he has his reasons. He claims the law could still be enforceable in some situations.
Which situations, you ask?
Well, he claims, the Supreme Court’s ruling was about what happens in the privacy of one’s own bedroom. So if you act gay in public in Montana, Ken Peterson wants your felon ass in jail. Maybe for ten years, as the statute calls for. Or maybe you'll get a $50,000 fine. Bottom line: Peterson doesn’t want gays getting too comfortable in his state.
In my mind, if they were engaging in acts in public that could be construed as homosexual, it would violate that statute. It has to be more than affection. It has to be overt homosexual acts of some kind or another...If kissing goes to that extent, yes. If it's more than that, yes.
But he also thinks the sodomy law could be used to prosecute those gay “recruiters” we’ve heard so much about. Indeed, thanks to the law (according to Peterson), “Homosexuals can't go out into the heterosexual community and try to recruit people, or try to enlist them in homosexual acts.” For those who haven’t seen recruitment in action, Peterson narrates the scene, with completely believable dialogue to boot:
“Here, young man, your hormones are raging. Let's go in this bedroom, and we'll engage in some homosexual acts. You'll find you like it.”
When pressed, Peterson admits he hasn’t actually seen this happen. Because, you know, he doesn’t “associate with that group of people at all…I’ve associated with mainstream people all my life.” You can’t be too safe, I guess.
Of course, we know what this is really all about. It’s about further stigmatizing and intimidating gay people. And maybe, bigots like Peterson hope, we’ll see a right-wing Supreme Court overturn Lawrence someday. If only, if only. In the meantime, you’ll pry the sodomy law from the Montana Republican-controlled House’s cold, dead hands.
But Larry Epstein, vice president of the Montana County Attorneys Association (which is made up of the people who prosecute felonies in Montana), clarifies: “The statute will not be enforced as written – ever. We take our marching orders not only from the legislature but from the courts in which we appear.”
