The history of Sodomy Laws

[roman (imported)]

The History of Oregon's Sodomy Laws and Repressive Legislation

original page:

http://home.teleport.com/~glapn/ar04001.html

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Another law arising from the Vice Clique scandal was a 1913 statute to require sexual sterilization of "habitual criminals, moral degenerates, and sexual perverts." These "moral degenerates" and "sexual perverts" were defined as those "addicted to the practice of sodomy or the crime against nature, or to other gross, bestial and perverted sexual habits and practices prohibited by statute." This law was subjected to a referendum by initiative, evocative of recent gay rights referenda in Oregon, and a harbinger of things to come. On Nov. 4, 1913, in record-low turnout, this law was repealed by a 56%-44% margin, winning only four counties.

Ignoring the will of voters, the Oregon legislature enacted another sterilization law in 1917 that included these same groups, with the same definition. This time, there was no referendum against the law and it was put into effect.

In 1918, the Oregon Supreme Court upheld the sodomy conviction of a Greek immigrant after the prosecuting attorney "referred to the glories of past Greece."

In 1921 a trial court found the sterilization law unconstitutional, after it had been used on 127 people.

Records show that men identified as "sexual or moral degenerates" were the most frequent victims of this law initially (penal inmates mostly), and that Oregon used the more radical procedure of castration rather than vasectomy on about 92% of the men sterilized. Later on, the mentally retarded, epileptic, and insane individuals incarcerated in the State's Home for the Feeble-Minded and the State Hospital, became the chief victims of eugenics legislation, and most of those were women.

The breadth of the sodomy statute was put to a test in 1928. The Oregon Supreme Court upheld a conviction for consensual masturbation of another person.

The sterilization law was amended in 1935 to require lists to be submitted to the Board of Eugenics of all "moral degenerates" and "sexual perverts," whether or not they committed a crime. This law was enacted after praise for the Nazi sterilization program was voiced by then Oregon State Treasurer Rufus Holman and Secretary of State Earl Snell, both of whom served on the State Board of Control overseeing Oregon's penal and charitable institutions.

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