In Brief

Staff Reports

Unconstitutional Anti-LGBT Law Riles LGBTQ Activists In Kansas

TOPEKA, KANSAS -- In the landmark Lawrence v. Texas case nearly a decade ago in 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state laws cannot criminalise gay sex between consenting adults. In Kansas there is still a law on the books albeit not enforceable that LGBTQ equality rights activists call offensive and unconstitutional. That law makes sex between the same gender a crime in Kansas.

“It's an unconstitutional law and it makes no sense to have it on the books,” said Kerry Wilks, Chairperson of the Kansas Equality Coalition. "It has mattered to some people, and just the fact that it's on the books should be enough,” said Wilks.

On January 20, 2012, Kansas Republican Governor Sam Brownback released his list of 51 “out of date, unreasonable, and burdensome” laws to be repealed. Missing from that list was the unconstitutional law banning same-sex relationships.

“We are angry and disappointed that Governor Brownback has failed to keep his promise to repeal laws that are unreasonable. There is nothing more unreasonable than Sam Brownback’s preserving an unconstitutional law that’s used by government officials to harass gay and lesbian Kansans,” said Thomas Witt, spokesperson for the Kansas Equality Coalition. “The US Supreme Court has made it clear that being gay or lesbian is not a crime, and Brownback’s announcement is a gross act of disrespect to our nation’s Constitution, and to the thousands of gay and lesbian Kansans singled out by this unjust law,” Witt said.

Upon taking office in 2011, Governor Brownback had made repealing unreasonable, out-of-date laws a top priority for his administration. In response, the Kansas Equality Coalition had repeatedly requested, in writing and in meetings with the Office of the Repealer, that the unconstitutional ban on same-sex relationships be repealed.

This week activists were scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify at a hearing Wednesday urging Senators to repeal the law. It’s the same committee where a bill to repeal last year stalled.

"I think people will actually have trouble voting on this again,” said State Senator Jean Schodorf, (R-25th District) “It is very sensitive.” Schodorf is a senior member of the committee. She says the bill might have trouble coming to a vote because many legislators were uneasy about the topic the last legislative session. 

However Schodorf expressed support of repealing the law on a constitutional basis. “The state could be sued because it has been unconstitutional on various grounds,” Schodorf said. [...] Let's get rid of it and we won't have to talk about it anymore,” Schodorf said.

Anger is growing in the gay community. There was hope that this law would be on the state's repealer list of suggested laws to do away with.

Kansas Equality Coalition's Wilks said, "It's telling someone that who they are is wrong and that's not right.”