It May Soon Be Illegal For You To Have Anal And Oral Sex In Michigan

A Michigan bill targeting bestiality also appears to outlaw sodomy altogether.

In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled statewide bans on sodomy, anal sex and other sex acts were unconstitutional.

This decision affected numerous states that reportedly had such bans, though it's not clear if any of these now-unconstitutional laws are ever enforced today.

One of these states is Michigan, which is reportedly yet to officially remove the ban from its body of laws.

The state's Senate passed a bill last week appearing to go against the 2003 ruling.

According to Huffington Post, Senate Bill 219 states anyone who sodomizes an animal is committing a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

The legislation is part of a package of bills aimed to crack down on animal abusers, with measures like creating a registry for such individuals, RawStory reports.

But, if you look at how Bill 219 is worded, there is an obvious problem. The bill states,

A person who commits the abominable and detestable crime against nature either with mankind or with any animal is guilty of a felony.

The "mankind" part suggests the bill is also addressing human beings engaging in sodomy.

Michigan's House of Representatives can edit this language before passing the bill, but Republican Senator Rick Jones, who introduced the bill, prefers no changes be made.

Jones told The New Civil Rights Movement,

The minute I cross that line and I start talking about the other stuff, I won't even get another hearing. It'll be done. Nobody wants to touch it. I would rather not even bring up the topic, because I know what would happen. You'd get both sides screaming and you end up with a big fight that's not needed because it's unconstitutional… If we could put a bill in that said anything that's unconstitutional be removed from the legal books of Michigan, that's probably something I could vote for, but am I going to mess up this dog bill that everybody wants? No.

It's unclear if this bill would result in both heterosexual and homosexual couples getting arrested over anal or oral sex.

Jones apparently just wants the legislation to be passed.

One can probably think of more dire issues in Michigan, however, that should be addressed beforehand.

Citations: You Could Go To Prison For Performing Oral Or Anal Sex In Michigan (Huffington Post), This Michigan legislator is attempting to ban sodomy while the Flint water crisis rages on (RawStory)