Sodomy laws, which prohibit oral and anal sex, have been used to discriminate against and prosecute lgbtq+ people While some countries and states have repealed these laws, others continue to enforce them, with severe punishments for those convicted For example, in georgia, aggravated sodomy carries a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life in prison and requires the defendant to register as a. These laws focused on sex, and the overwhelming majority involved heterosexual sexual acts Supreme court declared sodomy laws unconstitutional Historically, many states criminalized sodomy—acts of anal or oral sex—even when those acts were performed in private between two consenting adults
While prosecutions for acts performed in private were generally rare, the existence of sodomy laws was used to justify discrimination based on a person's sexual orientation. Under common law, sodomy mainly consisted of anal sex However, in the u.s., the term eventually included oral sex as well as anal sex As recently as 1960, sodomy was considered illegal for everyone in the u.s., but the law banning sodomy was often enforced only against homosexuals.
OPEN
