BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho man represented by a coalition of civil rights attorneys is suing the state’s attorney general over Idaho’s so-called “infamous crime against nature” law, which makes it illegal to have oral or anal sex.
The man, who uses the pseudonym “John Doe,” filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court on Wednesday, saying his constitutional rights were violated when he was forced to register as a sex offender earlier this year because he was convicted in another state more than two decades ago of having oral sex. Doe said the state law was rendered invalid by a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said a similar law in Texas violated constitutional protections under the 14th Amendment.
The Supreme Court’s ruling in the Texas case directly applied to states with anti-sodomy laws that are directed at gay people, including Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. But other states, including Idaho, have laws that criminalize some penetrative sex acts between adults without specifying the genders of the participants. Doe’s attorneys say Idaho’s law is homophobic.
“More than 17 years ago, the Supreme Court declared homophobic laws like Idaho’s Crime Against Nature statute unconstitutional,” said Matthew Strugar, one of the lawyers representing Doe. “Idaho ignores that ruling and continues to demand people who were convicted of nothing more than having oral or anal sex to register as sex offenders. Just as the state cannot criminalize those sex acts, it cannot force people with decades-old oral sex convictions to register as sex offenders.”
