Linky link

[chickenfeet]

Thanks to samanthalake for this story about a man dying after having sex with a horse.

Apparently bestiality is legal in 17 US states.

Comments

[ironed_orchid]

!

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Did the Lord smite him with lightning for his sin? Or did the affronted equine take its revenge? (Sorry, but these questions just rise in my mind when all the report says is he died from having sex with a horse.)
Are the US states in which other species can be sexually harassed with impunity the same ones which penalise any form of sex other than marital missionary position (preferably in the dark) between humans? Is there a connection?

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

You raise some interesting questions which I am totally unqualified to answer. Perhaps regyt could her apply her JD to your concerns?

I do note that the story in question comes from fairly liberal Washington. If they have Georgia like statutes on "deviant" sex then lemur_catta and I are in deep shit. As it was, the worst we got busted for in Seattle was the evil crime of drinking beer with a picnic dinner at a fireworks exhibition. Perhaps, though, there was more to Mt. St. Helens than we realised.

OTOH, sxually tolerant Massachusetts is notorious for having had (may still have) exceptionally stringent bestiality laws and there is at least one recorded case of the public execution of both man and beast.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Hmmm: in C19th UK sodomy and bestiality used to be more or less conflated as 'abominable crimes against nature' and I suspect that would apply to a lot of the US states where these are still penalised.

But when did MA have v stringent bestiality laws and public executions? wouldn't this have been at the period when adulterers got an attractive scarlet A accessory?

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Yes it appears that the reason that so many US states no longer have bestiality legislation is that they have repealed very short statutes about 'abominable crimes against nature' that covered a multitude of "sins".

I'm not aware of any executions for bestiality in MA after the 17th century.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

See also:

http://www.sodomy.org/laws/

[jen-c-w.livejournal.com]

my god? Are you serious? Am I being thick or is it completely illegal in several states?

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

What I think has happened is this:

Until recently most states had very short, all embracing laws against sodomy that run something like "Any person who commits the unnatural act with a person or an animal shall be guilty of a felony".

This was used to prosecute homosexuals and, in some cases, certain kinds of heterosexual activity. As a result of changes in mores and because of certain Supreme Court decisions, most states have repealed their sodomy statutes leaving a, probably inadvertent, legal gap as far as bestiality is concerned.

[ceruleanblue3.livejournal.com]

"bestiality is legal in 17 US states"

Just what they say on the tourist leaflets, I'm sure.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

They need more Welsh tourists

[ceruleanblue3.livejournal.com]

Cumbrians, too. Have you heard the welly trick?

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

No. I suspect I will regret this but what is it?

[ceruleanblue3.livejournal.com]

Most people would be able to make it sound amusing, but not me. Sorry! It just involves wearing something nice and deep like wellies so's you can hook the sheep's feet into them, and it can't run away.

The person who told me this swore she wasn't pulling my leg!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_benedicte/]

Oh wow. That is disgusting. :(