CNN World using the term "sodomite" WTF?

[ISUGRADIA]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/11/02/chaplain.abuse.ap/
"Diocese bars sodomite chaplain"

I think some reporter needs to check the style book because that term is offensive and incendiary. The term sodomy itself is outdated and "sexual assault" is a better one though I know that "sodomy" is the term probably still in the law.

Here are some of the headlines for this story used by other news agencies when I searched on yahoo:

Army Chaplain Sentenced For Sodomizing Troops
Army chaplain gets 5 years for forcible sodomy
Chaplain banned from position after assault charges
Army chaplain gets 5-year sentence

[madrchsod]

1. really interesting use of the term "sodomite"

but what`s really interesting is the reading of ezekiel 16:49-50 where its the inhospitably of the women of sodom that was condemned.the in first century it was jude and josephus that decided sodomites were practitioners of male-male sex."sodomite" is really a fundamental religious word -what year is this?

[Meeker Morgan]

2. Believe it or not ...

... the official charge was "sodomy".

[Geoff R. Casavant]

3. "Sodomy" is the name of the charge

used in the UCMJ, and is distinct from Sexual Assault.

BTW, "Sodomy" in the UCMJ refers to all forms of oral and anal sex, not merely male-male. As a practical matter, like adultery, it is almost never prosecuted on its own, it is usually charged, if at all, with other, more egregious offenses against the UCMJ. For example, this conviction emphasizes the "forcible" aspect.

[ISUGRADIA]

4. Thanks for the information and clarification

I think my main point is that "sodomy" should be retired as a legal term just as the words "idiot" "moron" "feeble-minded" have been by many states. "Sodomy" is obviously biblically based term and for a long time such statutes have covered consensual and forced acts.

Rolling anal and oral assault into the definition of "sexual assault" would be a progressive step.

[bammertheblue]

6. So by that logic

a woman giving her husband or boyfriend oral sex is also a "sodomite"?
And this is still a LAW??

[TechBear_Seattle]

7. Arguably, such laws have been overturned as unconstitutional

I believe that was the essence of the Lawrence decision: that laws which target one group of people who commit an act but not others who commit the same act, or laws which are written to apply generally but are applied only selectively, are unconstitutional. Since general "sodomy" laws tend not to be applied generally (such as a woman giving oral sex to a man) but applied selectively (such as a man giving oral sex to a man), the general law is unconstitutional and therefore invalid.

It would be interesting for a straight couple to be arrested in their own home on "sodomy" charges, just to see how it would play out in court. But I'm not holding my breath that that will ever happen.

[ISUGRADIA]

9. It's happened!

"It would be interesting for a straight couple to be arrested in their own home on "sodomy" charges, just to see how it would play out in court."

This is why sodomy laws were so evil:

Miami Herald-Sunday, August 06 1989

Hard-time convicts in the prison yard derive no end of fun comparing their particular crimes to the transgression that landed James David Moseley behind bars 17 months ago.

Moseley, in the midst of a five-year sentence at a state prison outside Atlanta, is doing time for committing oral sex. With his wife.

...

Oral sex, even with a spouse, is a felony in Georgia. And the crime is considered so serious that the state Parole and Pardons Board has ruled that Moseley must serve at least two years of his five-year sentence. Sodomy is so serious that the board decided to keep Moseley incarcerated even as it is forced to prematurely release 3,000 convicted felons from jammed prisons to avoid a federal overcrowding lawsuit.

http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~kurisuto/sodomy.html

[TechBear_Seattle]

11. But not since the Lawrence decision declared such laws unconstitutional

Broadly applied, Lawrence overturned a lot of "morality" laws. Other than the Anderson decision in King County*, I am not aware of any judicial decision that has cited Lawrence.


* A Superior Court judge ruled on Anderson et al. v. King County et al. that Washington State's ban on equal marriage violated the state constitution. The Supreme Court heard an expedited appeal in March; a decision is overdue.

[ISUGRADIA]

See my post 9, if convicted of sodomy straight or gay

I'd say you're a "sodomite" under the definition of the law as it was. Supreme Court struck down sodomy laws but some state legislators are still trying to find ways around that decision.

[ISUGRADIA]

10. See my post 9, if convicted of sodomy straight or gay

I'd say you're a "sodomite" under the definition of the law as it was. Supreme Court struck down sodomy laws but some state legislators are still trying to find ways around that decision.

[funflower]

5. Did he turn into a pillar of salt?

B-)

[yellowcanine]

8. Sodomy is a misnomer anyway. The sin of Sodom was arrogance, gluttony and

not aiding the poor and the needy. Sounds like Republicans are Sodomites!

Ezekiel 16:49 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society


49 " 'Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.