Victory! Oral Sex No Longer a Felony "Crime Against Nature" for LA Sex Workers

by Alex DiBranco · 2011-07-01 14:07:00 UTC
Topics:

Two hundred-odd years ago, Louisiana decided that oral and anal sex were scourges upon society that needed to be criminalized. Puritanism and homophobia at its best! This week, the state of Louisiana decided that maybe it was time for an update to the lawbooks.

The courts had already struck down the meant of the "Crimes Against Nature" law for unconstitutionally invading people's bedrooms. But instead of dying a long-deserved death, the law continued to be used in another form: to charge sex workers caught soliciting oral or anal sex with felonies, instead of the typical misdemeanor charge for illegal prostitution. And under these felony charges, sex workers were forced to register as sex offenders, alongside rapists and child molesters. I want to know: What makes offering a blow job worse than selling genital intercourse?

Nothing.

That probably explains why the LA state senate unanimously voted to stop this practice (and the state house only had three dissenters), backing a bill designed by the New Orlean's group Women with a Vision. This week, Gov. Bobby Jindal dotted the last "i" by signing the bill into law.

In a press release announcing the victory, Women with a Vision Executive Director Deon Haywood stated: "For over two decades now, people – largely low-income women of color, including transgender women – have been branded with this scarlet letter simply because they were convicted under this archaic, discriminatory law. For the women I work with, and for LGBT young people, this has created an almost insurmountable barrier to much-needed housing, employment, treatment, and services." Haywood, a passionate advocate for sex workers, indicated that her organization will continue to work on behalf of those already sentenced for soliciting crimes against nature, to get them off the sex offender registry and their sentences changed.

Over 700 Change.org members signed a petition to the Louisiana state legislature and governor calling for an end to this "crimes against nature" law. Thank you to everybody who helped make this victory a reality!

Alex DiBranco is a Change.org Editor who has worked for the Nation, Political Research Associates, and the Center for American Progress. She is now based in New York City.

RELATED PETITION

Tell Louisiana: Oral Sex Doesn’t Make You a Sex Offender
VICTORY!
795 People
PREVIOUS STORY:
Governor's Signature Would Stop Rapists From Being Doctors in Illinois
NEXT STORY:
Fox News' Trotta Still Doesn't Get It: I Want Her Rape Apologism Off the Air

COMMENTS (5)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.