Act I: imported theology
English colonists brought the Buggery Act’s descendants with them. Colonial and early state codes spoke of “crimes against nature,” “the abominable and detestable crime against nature, not to be named among Christians,” and similar phrases that told you more about the draftsman’s church than about the elements of an offence. Penalties included death. Enforcement was sporadic, spectacular when it happened, and never the even-handed morality play later prosecutors claimed.
This domain’s 1998 compilation — “United States Sodomy Laws,” v1.0, January 28, 1998 — collected those twentieth-century remnants state by state, with citations. It is why Wikipedia talk pages still point at sodomy.org. We are not pretending to be a new invention. We are the same desk with better lighting.
Act II: the quiet repeals
Illinois repealed its sodomy prohibition in the 1961 criminal code revision (effective 1962), first in the nation. A long 1970s wave followed: California (1976), New Jersey (1979), and others, often as part of Model Penal Code cleanups rather than culture-war floor fights. Some states had their statutes struck by state courts — New York (People v. Onofre, 1980), Kentucky (Commonwealth v. Wasson, 1992), Georgia (Powell v. State, 1998).
In 1986 the U.S. Supreme Court went the other way. Bowers v. Hardwick upheld Georgia’s felony sodomy law. The opinion framed the question as whether the Constitution conferred “a fundamental right to engage in homosexual sodomy,” which is a hell of a way to ask whether the police may enter a bedroom. Seventeen years later, Lawrence called that framing wrong.
Act III: unenforceable, still printed
As of July 2025 reporting, these twelve states still had consensual-sodomy language in the criminal code, even though Lawrence bars enforcement against consenting adults:
Florida · Georgia · Kansas · Kentucky · Louisiana · Massachusetts · Michigan · Mississippi · North Carolina · Oklahoma · South Carolina · Texas
Maryland, Minnesota, Idaho, Utah, Virginia, and others have cleaned their codes since 2003. Repeal is not symbolic only. It removes a hook for old convictions, immigration prejudice, and the hypothetical revival problem if the Supreme Court ever treated Lawrence the way it treated Roe.
Military law followed a related path: the Uniform Code of Military Justice’s “unnatural” sexual provisions were rewritten in the 2010s so that the live offences are assault and public indecency, not private consensual conduct.
How to cite this
Primary: Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003); Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986). Secondary: William N. Eskridge Jr., Dishonorable Passions (2008). Tracker rows: /law/tracker/. Historical compilation: “United States Sodomy Laws,” sodomy.org (1998), archived at the Wayback Machine.
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.