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{{Short description|California law decriminalizing gay sex}}
⚫
The '''Consenting Adult Sex Bill''' (Assembly Bill 489) is a consenting adult law, passed in [[California]] in 1975 and effective in January 1976, that repealed the [[sodomy law]] in California so that it applied only in criminal situations and made [[gay sex]] legal for the first time.<ref name="Assembly Bill 489">{{cite web |url=http://www.unmarriedamerica.org/Archives/1975-CA-Consenting-Adults-Act/1975-AB489-CA-Consenting-Adults-Act.pdf |title=Assembly Bill 489}}</ref> [[George Moscone]], an early proponent of [[gay rights]], in conjunction with his friend and ally in the Assembly, [[Willie Brown (politician)|Willie Brown]], managed to get the bill passed, 21-20, repealing the existing Californian laws against [[sodomy]]. The amendment was signed into law by California Governor [[Jerry Brown]]. The Assembly had a much easier time passing the bill, with final vote on AB 489 being 45-26. Gov. Brown signed the bill on May 12, 1975.<ref>{{cite web |last=Sariff |first= Douglas |url=http://www.unmarriedamerica.org/Archives/1975-CA-Consenting-Adults-Act/1975-CA-News-Stories-on-Consenting-Adults-Act-Passage.pdf |title= |publisher=Gay News Alliance |accessdate=October 27, 2016}}</ref>
{{Infobox U.S. State legislation
| State = California
| Full_name = An act to amend Section 12912 of the Education Code, to amend Sections 972 and 985 of the Evidence Code, and to amend Sections 220, 286, 287, 288a and 290 of, to add Section 286.5 to, and to repeal Sections 269a, 269b, 286.1 and 288b of, the Penal Code, relating to sexual offenses.
| Introduced = January 15, 1975
| Assembly_Voted = {{font color|green|45-26}}
| Senate_Voted = {{font color|green|21-20}}
| Signed = {{font color|green|Yes}}
| Sponsors =
| Governor = [[Jerry Brown]]
| Code = Education, Evidence, and [[California Penal Code|Penal]]
| Section =Section [http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=12912.5&lawCode=EDC 12912] of the Education Code;<br>Sections [http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=972&lawCode=EVID 972] and [http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=985&lawCode=EVID 985]<br> of the Evidence Code;<br> and Sections [http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=220&lawCode=PEN 220], [http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=286&lawCode=PEN 286], [http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=287&lawCode=PEN 287], [http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=288a&lawCode=PEN 288a], and [http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=290&lawCode=PEN 290], and to repeal Sections [http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=269a&lawCode=PEN 269a], [http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=269b0&lawCode=PEN 269b], [http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=286.1&lawCode=PEN 286.1], and [http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=288b&lawCode=PEN 288b] of the Penal Code.
| Resolution =
| Associated_bills =
| URL =
| Status = amended
}}


⚫
The '''Consenting Adult Sex Law''' (Assembly Bill 489) is a [[California]]n piece of legislation which decriminalized private and consensual [[gay sex]].<ref name="Assembly Bill 489">{{cite web |url=http://www.unmarriedamerica.org/Archives/1975-CA-Consenting-Adults-Act/1975-AB489-CA-Consenting-Adults-Act.pdf |title=Assembly Bill 489}}</ref> Its main promoters were [[George Moscone]], an early proponent of [[gay rights]], and his friend and ally [[Willie Brown (politician)|Willie Brown]], who was serving in the California Assembly at the time. The bill passed in the Senate by a vote of 21 to 20 and in the Assembly by a vote of 45 to 26. It was signed into law by Governor [[Jerry Brown]] on May 12, 1975, which came into effect in January 1976.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.unmarriedamerica.org/Archives/1975-CA-Consenting-Adults-Act/1975-CA-News-Stories-on-Consenting-Adults-Act-Passage.pdf |last=Sariff |first= Douglas |title=Consenting Adults Act Passage |publisher=Gay News Alliance |access-date=October 27, 2016}}</ref>
Assemblyman Brown introduced the bill in 1970, resulting in a five-year fight in the legislature.

A previous bill to the same effect had been introduced in 1970 but had failed to garner enough support to pass.


== History ==
== History ==
Line 7: Line 25:


== Assembly Bill 489 ==
== Assembly Bill 489 ==
The bill decriminalized sex that is non-proceational and protected minors who could not legally consent. The 1975 California bill states, "This bill removes criminal sanctions from adulterous cohabitation; and it removes specific criminal sanctions from sodomy and oral copulation except: (1) when the sodomy or oral copulation is committed with a minor or by force, violence, duress, menace or threat of great bodily harm."<ref name="Assembly Bill 489"/> The focus was then set by Brown and Moscone to be on the consent of the adult for the sexual act and not the act itself.
The bill decriminalized sex that is non-procreational and protected minors who could not legally consent. Its text says "This bill removes criminal sanctions from adulterous cohabitation; and it removes specific criminal sanctions from sodomy and oral copulation except: (1) when the sodomy or oral copulation is committed with a minor or by force, violence, duress, menace or threat of great bodily harm."<ref name="Assembly Bill 489"/>

== Legal precedents ==

=== ''Bowers v. Hardwick'' ===
{{Main article|Bowers v. Hardwick}}
In Georgia in 1986, two men were walked in on while engaging in consensual sodomy in the privacy of a home. Hardwick, the respondent, took the case to the Court of Appeals after the Federal District Court denied his challenging of the constitutionality of the sodomy laws. After judgment, it was decided that since not all Court of Appeals had the same ruling over Hardwick’s claim, the matter at hand is whether or not Federal Constitution holds a fundamental right for homosexuals to engage in sodomy (source).<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Bowers v Hardwick |volume=478 |reporter=US |opinion=186 |date=1986 |court=U.S. |url=http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/478/186.html |accessdate=October 27, 2016}}</ref>

Hardwick felt like he was set up for failure as a “practicing homosexual.” From precedent, the Due Process Law of the Fourteenth Amendment did not extend to private acts in the home for his case. In the end, the rulings of the Appeals Court were reversed.

=== ''Lawrence v. Texas'' ===
{{Main article|Lawrence v. Texas}}
In Texas, 2003, two men were (again) caught engaging in sodomy under the reporting of a gun shooting disturbance. The Bowers v. Hardwick case was re-examined because there were more liberties uncounted for. The US Supreme Court documents the claim:

"To say that the issue in ''Bowers''&nbsp;was simply the right to engage in certain sexual conduct demeans the claim the individual put forward, just as it would demean a married couple were it said that marriage is just about the right to have sexual intercourse."<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Lawrence v. Texas |volume=539 |reporter=US |opinion=558 |court=U.S. |dte=2003 url= http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/539/558.html |accessdate=October 27, 2016}}</ref>

This case brought to light the right to choose what relationships to engage in as a free adult in the sanctity of their own homes.

Following the Hardwick case, the states that had laws prohibiting sodomy had dropped from 25 to 13 while 4 of those states only enforce these laws against homosexuals. This fact was used in order to prove that the Bowers’ ruling was constructed on the largely accepted values of the nation at the time.

Finally, The Due Process Law of the Fourteenth Amendment was effective in preventing the government from intruding in the personal lives of citizens.


== Modern-Day California: Penal Code 286 ==
== Modern-Day California: Penal Code 286 ==
Line 39: Line 37:
:*Uninformed of the type of sexual act that was to be engaged in or was asleep
:*Uninformed of the type of sexual act that was to be engaged in or was asleep


These guidelines are in place in order for anyone to be justifiably accused of unlawful sodomy and/or rape. They do not discriminate against people according to their sexual preferences or sexual orientation. The consequences for in illegal act of sodomy are defined in Assembly Bill 489: "This bill increases the punishment to not less than three years state imprisonment in cases of sodomy by force, violence, duress, menace or threat of great bodily harm, and in cases where the other person is 14 years of age and 10 years younger than the defendant. If the sodomy is with a person under 18, sodomy is punishable under the bill as a felony-misdemeanor by imprisonment in state prison for not more than 15 years or in the county jail for not more than one year."<ref name="Assembly Bill 489"/>
These guidelines are in place in order for anyone to be justifiably accused of unlawful sodomy and/or rape. They do not discriminate against people according to their sexual preferences or sexual orientation. The consequences for an illegal act of sodomy are defined in Assembly Bill 489: "This bill increases the punishment to not less than three years state imprisonment in cases of sodomy by force, violence, duress, menace or threat of great bodily harm, and in cases where the other person is 14 years of age and 10 years younger than the defendant. If the sodomy is with a person under 18, sodomy is punishable under the bill as a felony-misdemeanor by imprisonment in state prison for not more than 15 years or in the county jail for not more than one year."<ref name="Assembly Bill 489"/>


==See also==
==See also==
Line 50: Line 48:


==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==
*{{cite news|last1=Skelton|first1=George|last2=Gillam|first2=Jerry|title=Assembly Kills Softer 'Pot' Law, Passes Sex Bill|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/doc/157822757.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=May+9%2C+1975&author=Skelton%2C+George%3B+Gillam%2C+Jerry&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+%281923-Current+File%29&edition=&startpage=&desc=Assembly+Kills+Softer+%27Pot%27+Law%2C+Passes+Sex+Bill|accessdate=11 June 2014|work=Los Angeles Times|date=May 9, 1975|pages=B1-2}}
*{{cite news|last1=Skelton|first1=George|last2=Gillam|first2=Jerry|title=Assembly Kills Softer 'Pot' Law, Passes Sex Bill|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/157822757|access-date=11 June 2014|work=Los Angeles Times|date=May 9, 1975|pages=B1-2}}
*(May 14, 1975). "Gov. Brown Signs Bill Legalizing All Sex Acts." ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''.
*(May 14, 1975). "Gov. Brown Signs Bill Legalizing All Sex Acts." ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''.
*Woods, William and Diane Binson (2003). ''Bay Bathhouses and Public Health Policy''. Binghamton: Haworth Press.
*Woods, William and Diane Binson (2003). ''Bay Bathhouses and Public Health Policy''. Binghamton: Haworth Press.
Line 56: Line 54:
{{LGBT in California}}
{{LGBT in California}}


[[Category:LGBT law in California]]
[[Category:LGBTQ law in California]]
[[Category:1970s in LGBT history]]
[[Category:1975 in LGBTQ history]]
[[Category:LGBT history in California]]
[[Category:LGBTQ history in California]]
[[Category:History of LGBT civil rights in the United States]]
[[Category:History of LGBTQ civil rights in the United States]]
[[Category:Politics of the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:Politics of the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:California statutes]]

Latest revision as of 08:10, 25 September 2024

Consenting Adult Sex Bill
California State Legislature
Full nameAn act to amend Section 12912 of the Education Code, to amend Sections 972 and 985 of the Evidence Code, and to amend Sections 220, 286, 287, 288a and 290 of, to add Section 286.5 to, and to repeal Sections 269a, 269b, 286.1 and 288b of, the Penal Code, relating to sexual offenses.
IntroducedJanuary 15, 1975
Assembly voted45-26
Senate voted21-20
Signed into lawYes
GovernorJerry Brown
CodeEducation, Evidence, and Penal
SectionSection 12912 of the Education Code;
Sections 972 and 985
of the Evidence Code;
and Sections 220, 286, 287, 288a, and 290, and to repeal Sections 269a, 269b, 286.1, and 288b of the Penal Code.
Status: Amended

The Consenting Adult Sex Law (Assembly Bill 489) is a Californian piece of legislation which decriminalized private and consensual gay sex.[1] Its main promoters were George Moscone, an early proponent of gay rights, and his friend and ally Willie Brown, who was serving in the California Assembly at the time. The bill passed in the Senate by a vote of 21 to 20 and in the Assembly by a vote of 45 to 26. It was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown on May 12, 1975, which came into effect in January 1976.[2]

A previous bill to the same effect had been introduced in 1970 but had failed to garner enough support to pass.

History

[edit]

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, sodomy was often considered a “crime against nature” due to the fact that engaging in this form of intercourse disallows any possibility for procreation.[3] Sodomy is defined as being "sexual contact that takes place between the penis of one person and the anus of another person."[4] These laws were extended by state legislation to include oral sex performed on a man or a woman. Observations were then made on the people who committed the crime and the majority of offenders did such acts with minors. Despite improvements on laws protecting minors in cases of molestation, sodomy was still the primary charge.[3]

Assembly Bill 489

[edit]

The bill decriminalized sex that is non-procreational and protected minors who could not legally consent. Its text says "This bill removes criminal sanctions from adulterous cohabitation; and it removes specific criminal sanctions from sodomy and oral copulation except: (1) when the sodomy or oral copulation is committed with a minor or by force, violence, duress, menace or threat of great bodily harm."[1]

Modern-Day California: Penal Code 286

[edit]

The California Penal Code 286 still punishes for sodomy under the following circumstances:[4]

  1. Act is done with someone under the age of 18 (a minor)
  2. Done through violent force, fear tactics, or manipulation
  3. Done on someone who is:
  • Intoxicated / under the influence of drugs and therefore unable to consent for a sexual act
  • Diagnosed with a physical or mental disability, in which the perpetrator is aware of,  that would cause him or her to be unable to consent
  • Uninformed of the type of sexual act that was to be engaged in or was asleep

These guidelines are in place in order for anyone to be justifiably accused of unlawful sodomy and/or rape. They do not discriminate against people according to their sexual preferences or sexual orientation. The consequences for an illegal act of sodomy are defined in Assembly Bill 489: "This bill increases the punishment to not less than three years state imprisonment in cases of sodomy by force, violence, duress, menace or threat of great bodily harm, and in cases where the other person is 14 years of age and 10 years younger than the defendant. If the sodomy is with a person under 18, sodomy is punishable under the bill as a felony-misdemeanor by imprisonment in state prison for not more than 15 years or in the county jail for not more than one year."[1]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "Assembly Bill 489" (PDF).
  2. ^ Sariff, Douglas. "Consenting Adults Act Passage" (PDF). Gay News Alliance. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  3. ^ a b Eskridge, William N. (2008). Dishonorable Passions: Sodomy Laws in America, 1861–2003. Penguin.
  4. ^ a b "Unlawful Acts of Sodomy (California Penal Code 286 PC)". Shouse California Law Group. Retrieved October 27, 2016.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Skelton, George; Gillam, Jerry (May 9, 1975). "Assembly Kills Softer 'Pot' Law, Passes Sex Bill". Los Angeles Times. pp. B1-2. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  • (May 14, 1975). "Gov. Brown Signs Bill Legalizing All Sex Acts." Los Angeles Times.
  • Woods, William and Diane Binson (2003). Bay Bathhouses and Public Health Policy. Binghamton: Haworth Press.
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