A sodomy law is a criminal prohibition on certain consensual sex acts, usually anal or
oral sex, sometimes only between people of the same sex, sometimes between anyone. The
drafting is a mess on purpose: vague verbs (“abominable,” “unnatural,” “against the
order of nature”) let police decide who counted. Enforcement, wherever we have records,
ran along lines of class, race, and who was easiest to catch in a public place.
Two modern facts organize this desk. First, in the United States the Supreme Court held
in Lawrence v. Texas (2003) that private consensual adult sodomy statutes
violate due process; leftover text in state codes is a political fossil, not a live
charge against consenting adults. Second, globally the story is not over.
ILGA World counted 65 UN member states
still criminalizing consensual same-sex acts as of June 2026, with the death
penalty prescribed in 7 and uncertain in 5 more. In 2025 the total rose for the first time in
nearly a decade.
This section is not a lawyer. It is a map of the arguments, the citations, and the
statutes that refuse to be embarrassed off the page.
Last editorial review: September 2026. Not legal advice.
Educational material, not a diagnosis, prescription, or legal opinion. Consenting adults only.
Laws change; check primary sources and a licensed professional in your jurisdiction. If you are
in danger, local emergency services come first.
law
Flagrant Conduct: The Story of Lawrence v. Texas
Dale Carpenter
A Houston bedroom, a questionable raid, and the 2003 opinion that retired the American sodomy statute. Carpenter interviewed nearly everyone and still writes like a detective novel with footnotes.
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Dishonorable Passions: Sodomy Laws in America, 1861–2003
William N. Eskridge Jr.
From 'crime against nature' to Lawrence, statute by statute. Yale's Eskridge actually read the codes — McCarthy, Whitman, Hoover, and the long American habit of policing the bedroom from the capitol.
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From the Closet to the Altar: Courts, Backlash, and the Struggle for Same-Sex Marriage
Michael J. Klarman
What happened after the bedroom was no longer a crime scene: Hawaii, Goodridge, backlash statutes, and the odd way courts both sped up and blew up the marriage fight. Read it after Carpenter, not instead of him.
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