Sodomy laws in the United States

**Sodomy laws in the United States** were laws that made certain kinds of sexual activity illegal. In the past, there were federal laws against sodomy. Every state also had a sodomy law, even in the 20th century. Starting in the 1960s, some states began to repeal (throw out) their sodomy laws. In 2003, in a case called *Lawrence v. Texas*, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that sodomy laws were unconstitutional. This means no sodomy law in the United States can be used to charge a person with a crime.

## Types of laws
Most sodomy laws in the United States made both oral sex and anal sex illegal. However, state laws did not agree on *who* could not do these things. Every state law made sodomy between homosexual couples illegal. Other state laws also made sodomy illegal between heterosexual couples, if they were not married. The  laws made sodomy illegal in every case, even between married couples. Some sodomy laws also included bestiality in their definition of "sodomy." Sodomy could be punished by execution in many of the other American colonies as well. In cases of rape or statutory rape, the victim was often punished also. Sometimes the victim was executed along with their rapist. Historians are not sure exactly how many people were executed for sodomy in colonial America:
* In the 1600s, when executions for sodomy were most common, or ten people executed for sodomy (including bestiality)
* From 1700 to independence in 1776, there may have been five more executions for sodomy (including bestiality) these were the punishments for breaking sodomy laws in 1964:

## Repeals begin
In the 1960s, attitudes toward sex became much more  in the United States. As this happened, some states began to repeal their sodomy laws. Illinois was the first state to do this, in 1963. In the 1960s and 1970s, seventeen other states repealed their sodomy laws. Another seven states changed their laws to say that sodomy between heterosexual couples was not a crime. These seven states kept laws that made sodomy between homosexual couples a misdemeanor.

## *Lawrence v. Texas*
By 2003, 31 of the 50 states had repealed their laws against sodomy. 15 states had laws left that made sodomy a crime. 4 more had laws that made sodomy between same-sex couples a crime. In 2003, the United States Supreme Court made a landmark decision in *Lawrence v. Texas*. It ruled that Texas's sodomy law was unconstitutional. This ruling meant that no sodomy law in the United States was constitutional or could be used to charge a person with a crime. In other words, it made sexual activity between homosexuals legal in every state in America. At this time, 19 states still had sodomy laws that they had not repealed.

### Some states refuse to repeal
As of 2023, a total of 12 states had not repealed their sodomy laws, even though they cannot be used anymore because of *Lawrence v. Texas*. 9 of these state laws make both heterosexual and homosexual sodomy illegal:

3 more of these state laws  homosexual sodomy specifically: Kansas, Kentucky, and Texas.

Since the ruling, 9 states and one territory have repealed their sodomy laws:
* Arkansas (repealed in 2005)
* Missouri (repealed in 2006)
* Puerto Rico (repealed in 2006)
* Montana (directed only at homosexual sodomy via a common law definition) (repealed in 2013)
* Virginia (repealed in 2014)
* Utah (repealed in 2019)
* Alabama (repealed in 2019)
* Idaho (repealed in 2022)
* Maryland (repealed in 2023)
* Minnesota (repealed in 2023)

## Notes
## References