Sodomy laws are no longer on the books in Minnesota and Maryland.
According to The Los Angeles Blade, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a public-safety bill into law on May 19 that repeals several anti-LGBTQ+ sections from the state codeincluding a ban on sodomy that had been struck down as unconstitutional.
SF 2909 also erases outdated crimes related to abortion, fornication and adultery from the state code. Among other things, the measure also includes a provision defining "gender identity" as separate from "sexual orientation" and "sex" for the first time in state law.
Also, Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore recently announced that he would allow a bill that repeals the state's Unnatural or Perverted Sexual Practices Act to become law without his signature, per The Washington Blade. (Earlier this month, Moore signed the Trans Health Equity Act, which requires Maryland's Medicaid program to cover gender-affirming treatment.)
State Dels. David Moon (D-Montgomery County) and Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore City) introduced House Bill 131, while state Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Baltimore and Howard Counties) put forth an identical measure in the Maryland Senate.
In 2020, the General Assembly repealed the law's "sodomy" provision.
Across the country, many Democrats rushed to delete obsolete laws that target LGBTQ+ people from state and federal codes after last year's Supreme Court ruling striking down the right to abortion included an opinion from Clarence Thomas, the L.A. Blade noted. He suggested that the court should review its decisions that declared bans on same-sex marriage and sodomy to be unconstitutionalsomething some of his fellow justices pushed against.
Andrew Davis