Sheriff Arrests 12 Gay Men For Sex Because Unconstitutional Anti-Sodomy Law Still ‘On The Books’

An East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana sheriff reportedly is allowing his deputies to set up stings targeting gay men, then arresting them, essentially for dating or private, in-home hook-ups. The state of Louisiana has refused to repeal anti-sodomy laws deemed unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court a decade ago.

Despite the fact that these men are not arrested on sex-for-money or public sex charges, East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff Sid Gautreaux has allowed members of his Special Community Anti-Crime Team reportedly to arrest at least a dozen men under Louisiana’s invalid and unenforceable crime against nature statute — R.S. 14:89.

The local district attorney has refused to prosecute any of the cases, according to a report in the Baton Rouge Advocate:

District Attorney Hillar Moore III said his office refused to prosecute each one of the cases because his assistants found no crime had occurred. After inquiries from the newspaper last week, he arranged to meet with Sheriff’s Office investigators to discuss the implications of the Supreme Court ruling.

Casey Rayborn Hicks, a Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman, denied that investigators had been misapplying the anti-sodomy law, which remains among the state’s criminal statutes.

“This is a law that is currently on the Louisiana books, and the sheriff is charged with enforcing the laws passed by our Louisiana Legislature,” Hicks said. “Whether the law is valid is something for the courts to determine, but the sheriff will enforce the laws that are enacted.”

Moore noted that public sex acts and the solicitation of “unnatural carnal copulation” for money remain illegal. But those elements were lacking from these 12 cases, and most of the men were arrested after agreeing to have sex away from the park at a private residence.

Gay rights attorneys agree the arrests are illegal, the Baton Rouge Advocate adds:

“It’s really unfortunate that police are continuing to single out, target, falsely arrest and essentially ruin the lives of gay men in Baton Rouge who are engaged in no illegal conduct,” said Andrea J. Ritchie, a civil rights attorney.

Peter Renn, an attorney with Lambda Legal, the prominent gay rights organization, said the pattern of “unlawful arrests over multiple years” suggests authorities are using the stings as a means to harass gay men.

“The fact that this has been going on for a two-year period is unbelievable,” Renn said. “This is basically like the police putting up a sign that says ‘Please sue me.’ ”

But the Sheriff’s spokeswoman revealed the real purpose of the arrests, “saying a park ‘is not the place to initiate or attempt to initiate sexual relations,'” the Advocate adds:

“The issue here is not the nature of the relationship but the location,” she said. “These are not bars. These are parks. These are family environments.”

“Some Louisiana lawmakers attempted to repeal the controversial law in 2003, but failed,” the Raw Story notes. “Louisiana remains one of 17 states that still have anti-sodomy laws on the books, despite the Supreme Court’s 2003 ruling.”

The sheriff is an elected official, who has run unopposed in the last four elections.