www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3689195,00.html
The ruling by Kansas second-highest court rejected an appeal by Matthew R. Limon, who was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for having sex when he was 18 with a 14-year-old boy in 2000. Had Limons partner been an underage girl, he could have been convicted of unlawful sex under the states Romeo and Juliet law and sentenced at most to one year and three months in prison. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Limon, had argued that the differing sentences represented unconstitutional discrimination against gays, especially since the United States Supreme Court in June struck down state laws, including one in Kansas, criminalizing gay sex between consenting adults. The appeals panel said Friday that the June decision did not apply to sex acts involving children. The panel said lawmakers could have several reasons for setting up differing sodomy penalties, just as they can justify making it illegal to furnish alcohol to children but not to adults. The Legislature could have reasonably determined that to prevent the gradual deterioration of the sexual morality approved by a majority of Kansans, it would encourage and preserve the traditional sexual mores of society, Green wrote. In addition, he wrote, Medical literature is replete with articles suggesting that certain health risks are more generally associated with homosexual activity than heterosexual activity.
We grant deference, not blind acquiescence, to legislative findings, Pierron wrote. This blatantly discriminatory sentencing provision does not live up to American standards of equal justice. Kansas law makes any sexual activity involving a person under 16 illegal. The 1999 Romeo and Juliet law, however, provides lesser penalties for consensual sex when one partner is 19 or under and the other partners age is within four years. Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, who had suggested that a ruling favoring Limon could strengthen a future attack on the states ban on gay marriage, called Fridays ruling a big victory. Tamara Lange, an ACLU attorney representing Limon, said she planned to appeal to the Kansas Supreme Court. This decision is not a victory for morality or a victory for Kansas, she said. Susan Sommer, an attorney for the gay rights group Lambda Legal who was involved in the case that led to Junes Supreme Court ruling, said the Kansas court was deaf to the spirit and teaching of that ruling. This is an opinion that reflects an archaic set of attitudes about homosexuality that the United States Supreme Court completely transcended, she said.
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