Dan Savage apparently isn’t very happy about the Louisiana House vote last night to keep anti-sodomy laws on the books. Those laws were deemed unconstitutional eleven years ago by the U.S. Supreme Court, yet 17 states refuse to remove them from their statutes. In Louisiana, anti-sodomy laws were used to arrest at least 12 gay men for “crimes against nature” last year.
Sodomy is often defined as “anal or oral copulation with a member of the opposite sex,” or, “copulation with a member of the same sex.”
Last night, the Blog of New Orleans reported that GOP Rep. Valarie Hodges voted against revoking the anti-sodomy law because “yesterday was Passover and Friday is Good Friday.â€
“This has been on the Louisiana law books for nearly 200 years,†she said. “Just because we decriminalize something doesn’t make it right. … We’re not here to rubber stamp the Supreme Court. … We’re here to uphold the law of what’s right and wrong.â€
Via Twitter this morning, Savage asked:
“Have you ever given or received a blowjob?” That question needs to be put to 67 lawmakers in Louisiana.
He followed up with a few more tweets:
1. Anyone up for finding twitter handles of the Louisiana lawmakers who voted to keep blowjobs illegal? And fill their feeds with Qs about — Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) April 16, 2014
2. whether they’ve ever given or received a blowjob? I would do it but I’m getting in car for 12 hours with no Internet access. — Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) April 16, 2014
So, who’s up for the challenge? It shouldn’t be hard to track down the Twitter accounts of these 67 anti-gay lawmakers who all voted to keep Louisiana’s anti-sodomy laws on the books by voting against HB 12:
Adams, Bryan
Anders, John F. “Andy”
Armes, James K.
Barras, Taylor F.
Berthelot, John A.
Billiot, Robert E.
Bishop, Stuart J.
Broadwater, Chris
Brown, Terry R.
Burns, Henry L.
Burns, Timothy G.
Carmody, Thomas
Carter, Stephen F.
Champagne, Simone B.
Chaney, Charles R.
Connick, Patrick
Cromer, Gregory
Danahay, Michael E.
Dove, Gordon
Fannin, James R.
Garofalo, Raymond E.
Geymann, Brett F.
Gisclair, Jerry
Greene, Hunter
Guillory, Mickey J.
Guinn, John E.
Harris, Lance
Harrison, Joe
Havard, Kenneth E.
Henry, Cameron
Hensgens, Bob
Hill, Dorothy Sue
Hodges, Valarie
Hoffmann, Frank A.
Hollis, Paul
Howard, Frank A.
Huval, Mike
Ivey, Barry
Johnson, Robert A.
Jones, Sam
Lambert, Eddie J.
LeBas, H. Bernard
Leopold, Christopher J.
Lopinto, Joseph P.
Lorusso, Nick
Mack, Sherman Q.
Miller, Gregory A.
Morris, James “Jim”
Morris, John C. “Jay”
Pearson, J. Kevin
Ponti, Erich E.
Pope, J. Rogers
Pugh, Stephen E.
Pylant, Steve E.
Reynolds, Eugene
Richard, Jerome
Ritchie, Harold L.
Schexnayder, Clay
Schroder, John M.
Seabaugh, Alan
Shadoin, Robert E.
Simon, Scott M.
Stokes, Julie
Talbot, Kirk
Thompson, Jeff R.
Whitney, Lenar L.
Willmott, Thomas P.
The Louisiana House Twitter account is @LouisianaHouse.
Care to do a bit of Twitter research?
Just search Twitter for a few names and leave their Twitter handles in the comments section below.
We’ll publish the list later today.
If you tweet, personally I’d recommend a different approach, but Savage has been effective in getting a message across.
My tweet to the House:
.@LouisianaHouse Shame on you. Anti-sodomy laws are unconstitutional and designed to oppress the #LGBT community. #LAgov #gay #equality
— David Badash (@davidbadash) April 16, 2014