In a fight my office has been litigating since 2015, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal today declared Mississippi’s “Unnatural Intercourse” (sodomy) statute unconstitutional.
Mississippi’s Unnatural Intercourse law purports to make it illegal for anyone to have oral or anal sex in the state. While modern day prosecutions are rare or non-existent, the state continues to insist that the law is still valid. And it continues to make approximately 30 people register as sex offenders for convictions from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
Today’s ruling from the Fifth Circuit confirms that my office has been saying since 2015: Mississippi can no longer cling to its homophobic, antiqued law. It is unconstitutional and has been for two decades. Enough is enough.