There are countless articles floating around the internet and being shared on Facebook with shouty headlines like “This Michigan legislator is attempting to ban sodomy while the Flint water crisis rages on” and “Instead of Helping Flint, Michigan Republicans Just Passed a Bill That Makes Anal Sex Illegal“. They all appear to refer back to an article by The New Civil Rights Movement titled, “Michigan Senate Passes Bill Saying Sodomy Is A Felony Punishable By 15 Years in Prison“.
None of them are true.
What happened was the there is an effort to change Michigan law to deny a pet adoption to anyone who has been convicted of animal abuse within the past five years and to prohibit convicted animal abusers from adopting another animal for five years The law is called Logan’s Law after a Huskie named Logan was tortured with battery acid. The bill in question is Senate Bill 219 which leaves in place a clause that says, “A person who commits the abominable and detestable crime against nature either with mankind or with any animal is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 15 years.”
“The abominable and detestable crime against nature” is an arcane reference to sodomy (anal sex) and this law did not alter it by either by making it more illegal or by removing it. There’s basically no need to because the U.S. Supreme Court already outlawed sodomy laws in 2003.
So, yes, they could have removed the language and chose not to. But nothing has changed. Sodomy laws are still just as unconstitutional in Michigan today as they have been since 2003.
As much as I detest most of what Michigan Republicans do, they did NOT – I repeat DID NOT – ignore what’s going on in Flint and pass a new law to ban sodomy.
Let’s focus on the truly bad things they do. And, Lord knows, they give us plenty of fodder to work with.
By the way, if you want to read why this is actually an EXCELLENT bill, click HERE.
