Virginia Sodomy Laws Challenged

The excitement and push for change and organizing continued for the lesbian and gay community in 1975 as well. The Richmond Lesbian Feminists (RLF) was founded and the sodomy laws in Virginia were challenged. In “Doe v. Commonwealth’s Attorney for the City of Richmond,” the sodomy laws were upheld. This decision was summarily affirmed by the US Supreme Court.

It should be noted that Judge Robert Merhige issued a dissenting opinion in the case which stated that “private consensual sex acts between adults are matters, absent evidence that they are harmful, in which the state has no legitimate interest.” The Virginia law is still on the books never having been repealed by the General Assembly; these laws were declared unconstitutional nationwide by the US Supreme Court decision in “Lawrence and Gardner v. Texas” in 2003. The “Crimes against Nature” law (18.2-361) states: “ If any person carnally knows in any manner any brute animal, or carnally knows any male or female person by the anus or by or with the mouth, or voluntarily submits to such carnal knowledge, he or she shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony…”