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").

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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?

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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....

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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.

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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.

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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.

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(not sure where you are Cass)

I'm in California, which is freakishly big for a state. So Texas looks big, as befits their image, not that size matters. The rest of the country looks ... less big.

Just finished a sodomy discussion with the parents (rarely has the phrase "no, I'm not going into details" been used so often, and with such vehemence on my part).

Oh dear.

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as in the somewhat antiquated epithet "sodomite"

I prefer the term "gomorrahite" myself.

(Not sure if that's the correct spelling....)

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And voila! one more state I had visited.

I grew up in (north) Wilmington, DE where we could drive to 3 different states in 1/2 hour or less. My Texas cousins couldn't comprehend that at all. Many of them had never left the state.

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Oh dear.

It really could have gone less well. And they totally understand reading texts slashily even I didn't have the energy to go into the aspect of writing it. I think that's so charming, for a bougie older Jamaican couple.

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