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Baton Rouge sheriff accused of targeting gay men for arrest
Source: Reuters
Baton Rouge sheriff accused of targeting gay men for arrest
By Kathy Finn
New Orleans | Mon Jul 29, 2013 6:59pm EDT
(Reuters) - A councilman in Louisiana's capital city of Baton Rouge said on Monday he wants to examine official records to find out if a local sheriff has been harassing gay men by enforcing an anti-sodomy law that the U.S. Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a decade ago.
City Councilmember John Delgado said he "was incensed" when he read a Baton Rouge Advocate newspaper article on Sunday reporting that the local sheriff's office had arrested a dozen men in the last two years on charges they violated a state law prohibiting sex between two persons of the same gender. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that such laws are not valid.
"Those officers had to have known the law is unconstitutional," said Delgado, a lawyer. "I think it's a policy of harassment that targets a specific segment of the population."
About a dozen men were booked on the felony charge of attempted crime against nature in one neighborhood and two of the arrests were as recent as July, the local district attorney said.
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By Kathy Finn
New Orleans | Mon Jul 29, 2013 6:59pm EDT
(Reuters) - A councilman in Louisiana's capital city of Baton Rouge said on Monday he wants to examine official records to find out if a local sheriff has been harassing gay men by enforcing an anti-sodomy law that the U.S. Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a decade ago.
City Councilmember John Delgado said he "was incensed" when he read a Baton Rouge Advocate newspaper article on Sunday reporting that the local sheriff's office had arrested a dozen men in the last two years on charges they violated a state law prohibiting sex between two persons of the same gender. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that such laws are not valid.
"Those officers had to have known the law is unconstitutional," said Delgado, a lawyer. "I think it's a policy of harassment that targets a specific segment of the population."
About a dozen men were booked on the felony charge of attempted crime against nature in one neighborhood and two of the arrests were as recent as July, the local district attorney said.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/29/us-usa-louisiana-sodomy-idUSBRE96S14720130729
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