1 - Introduction

Summary

As it is clear from Divine Scripture that our omnipotent God, detesting the sin of sodomy and wishing to demonstrate that fact, brought down his wrath upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and soon thereafter flooded and destroyed the whole world for such horrible sins, our most honorable ancestors sought with their laws and efforts to liberate our city from such a dangerous divine judgment.

Sec. 8.1-212 (1981) Crimes against nature … If any person shall carnally know in any manner any brute animal, or carnally know any male or female person by the anus or by or with the mouth, or voluntarily submit to such carnal knowledge, he or she shall be guilty of a felony and shall be confined in the penitentiary not less than one year nor more than three years.

Sec. 16-6-2 (1984) … (a) A person commits the offense of sodomy when he performs or submits to any sexual act involving the sex organs of one person and the mouth or anus of another … (b) A person convicted of the offense of sodomy shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than 20 years …

Unlike the first text, a Decree of the Council of Ten of Venice in 1458, the latter two provisions are not quaint relics of medieval law, but sections from the current Criminal Codes of the states of Virginia and Georgia (26 States have such legislation). In 1986 the United States Supreme Court declared them constitutional exercises “of the legislative authority of the state.”