India isn’t the only country currently wondering about “carnal intercourse against the order of nature”, to quote section 377 of the IPC Apparently, in the US a piece of semi-news has gone viral that Michigan has made oral and anal sex illegal. That’s not quite true - the Michigan legislature when amending the penal code simply didn’t remove the outdated section:
When the Supreme Court decided Lawrence v. Texas by a 6-3 margin in 2003, making oral and anal sex legal nationwide, 14 states still had anti-sodomy laws on the books.
The decision (which has a fascinating history) invalidated those laws. Still, 12 states, including Michigan, never repealed them.This isn’t necessarily unusual. Legislators love passing laws, but they’re much less likely to go back and clean up old ones. State criminal codes are overstuffed with outdated, unconstitutional, unenforceable laws of all kinds, and Michigan is no exception.
Adultery is technically a felony in Michigan. So is “seducing and debauching an unmarried woman.” The state’s penal code says unmarried people who live together can be fined or put in prison.
Read more at Vox.