Class Fights Nevada's 'Infamous Crime Against Nature' Law
Class Fights Nevada's 'Infamous Crime Against Nature' Law
LAS VEGAS (CN) - Nevada's "infamous crime against nature" law threatens same-sex teenage couples with life in prison for behavior that is legal for mixed-sex couples, a class action claims in Federal Court.
"John Doe had a consensual sexual relationship with another male teenager at a time when Doe was seventeen and the second teenager was sixteen," the complaint states. "If either Doe or the other teenager had been a girl instead of a boy, their sexual relationship would have been completely legal under Nevada law. But because the two teenagers were both boys, Elko County prosecuted John Doe in juvenile court for 'incit(ing), entic(ing), or solicit(ing) a minor to engage in acts which constitute the infamous crime against nature.'" (Brackets in complaint.)
Doe sued Elko County and its District Attorney Mark Torvinen.
He seeks declaratory judgment, an injunction and a dollar.
The complaint continues: "The 'crimes against nature' statute creates a double standard that treats identical conduct differently based solely on whether the sexual activity involves two persons of the same sex. Under Nevada law, sixteen is the legal age of consent to engage in 'ordinary sexual intercourse, anal intercourse, cunnilingus or fellatio.' N.R.S. § 200.364. The statute setting the age of consent, N.R.S. § 200.364, makes no distinctions between heterosexual or homosexual activities. But a separate statute that criminalizes solicitation of a minor to engage in 'crimes against nature,' singles out the identical conduct for severe criminal penalties when it involves two 'persons of the same sex.' N.R.S. § 201.195.2. The 'crimes against nature' statute thus enables prosecutors to circumvent the age of consent established by N.R.S. § 200.364 and prosecute identical conduct under N.R.S. § 201.195 if, and only if, the sexual conduct involved a same-sex couple."
http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/04/03/56320.htm
