It was illegal until a few years ago in Texas. The case that struck down the anti-sodomy law was big news.

tries not to ask ita if she's planning a vacation

There are states where anal sex is illegal, right? How can I find out which ones?

ita, about a year and a half ago, the U.S. Supreme Court found that anti-sodomy laws, regardless of the genders of the practitioners, are unconstitutional as applied to what consenting adults do in private.

Yes, there's a constitutional right to have sex.

(ETA: Xpost, of course.)

The recent Supreme Court ruling declared all such laws unconstitutional, if I'm not mistaken.

Also, wasn't oral sex included under the rubric "sodomy"?

ita, my understanding of the legal definition of sodomy was yours (gender irrelevant), but I've seen it used most commonly in reference to gay male sex (as in the somewhat antiquated epithet "sodomite").

The recent Supreme Court ruling declared all such laws unconstitutional, if I'm not mistaken.

Huh. I google and ...

Of the 13 states with sodomy laws, four -- Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri -- prohibit oral and anal sex between same-sex couples. The other nine ban consensual sodomy for everyone: Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia.

Thursday's ruling apparently invalidates those laws, as well.

Emphasis mine.

Would that mean that in, say, Alabama (I apologise to Georgia, I thought it was one of those states) it may still be on the books, but challengeable if one got brought up in charges? Or do the states then go through and strike them from the books later.

Why apparently? Why wouldn't it be definite? The article sure makes it sound definite, up to the bit where they say "apparently."

Where are the lawyers?

A while back (ten or fifteen years?) the Supreme Court ruled that it was OK for states to enforce sodomy laws on homosexuals but not heterosexuals.

I think there's a dual meaning to "sodomy" - the "traditional" definition of anal sex (straight or gay), and then a more legalistic definition of any gay or lesbian sex.

x-posty....

A few years ago I learned that the only conviction under anti-sodomy statute in Louisiana was of a married couple. I think sodomy was loosely defined as "unnatural acts", which really doesn't clarify anything.

I'm now wondering what exactly a married couple did with each other to get brought up on charges, and how the authorities happened upon the incident.

American Heritage defines sodomy thusly:

Any of various forms of sexual intercourse held to be unnatural or abnormal, especially anal intercourse or bestiality.

Which pretty much sums up how I'd thought it was defined, but not how I used the word (which was just to mean anal sex).

That definition makes people look really petty, doesn't it. And then I found an interesting piece on how the Sodom debacle wasn't that gay -- including details on when S&G became about homosexuality.