State Superior Court Judge Benjamin Alford issued the ruling late Wednesday, saying the law violated Hobbs’ constitutional right to liberty. He cited a 2003 Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Texas sodomy law.
That ruling showed that “the government has no business regulating relationships between two consenting adults in the privacy of their own home,” Jennifer Rudinger, executive director of the ACLU of North Carolina, said in a statement.
There’s a reason no one takes the south seriously (sorry, south!). It’s got less to do with lingering resentment over all those Union dead during the Civil War, and more to do with Bible Belt Republicans preaching about “less government”* on one hand, then supporting laws like this. Sorry, government in the bedroom ain’t small — it’s intrusive, unneccessary, unwanted, and now we know unconstitutional, too. How wonderful that North Carolina has decided to move into the 20th Century**.
Government and bedrooms don’t mix.
*Although lately the “less government” Republicans have begun to be replaced by the “socialist christian” Republicans, so my whole point is probably moot.
** Someday, they might even get into the 21st!
Here’s the ting…I don’t understand why we need laws like that…or people even worry about them. If I want to get done up the butt in my bedroom, I’m gonna do it whether there is a law on the books or not. If you don’t want to get done up the butt, then don’t.
Comment by Blonde Vigilante — July 21, 2006 @ 12:44 pm
Thought I should point out that Marlyand is also considered part of the South. Geographically. You know, what with the Civil War and the Mason-Dixon Line and all.
Just sayin’.
Comment by Jen — July 21, 2006 @ 3:32 pm
Yeah, but the modern definition of “South” is “states which fought for the confederacy.”
(Yes, I know Md was occupied by Federal troops, point? Shit, Tennessee’s people voted to stay loyal but its government secceeded anyway! Too bad Feds couldn’t have occupied it!)
Comment by MSnay — July 21, 2006 @ 3:35 pm
politics makes strange bedfellows…that’s how “less government” people got involved with “in the bedroom” type laws. The reason why people worry about these laws is that, while they are on the books the possibility exists that they could be enforced. It’s kind of like a whipping post in back of a plantation house – very rarely did it just sit there.
Comment by tea — July 21, 2006 @ 3:53 pm