Kansas Lawmakers Preserve Anti-Gay Law

Even in this post-Lawrence v. Texas age, when the Supreme Court has long since upheld the right of gays and lesbians to lead their own private lives unmolested by anti-gay laws, lawmakers in Kansas have seen fit to leave an anti-gay law on the books.

Two state legislators on the state's House Judiciary committee, State Rep. Jan Paul and Chairman Lance Kinzer, targeted gays when they excised an amendment from a bill to update the state's penal code. The amendment would have culled an outdated--and unconstitutional--state law that criminalizes gays, reported NBC on March 11.

To the state's GLBTs, the move communicated one unmistakable message: Homophobia.

"I think their motivation is pretty clear," the Kansas Equality Commission's chair, Thomas Witt, told the media. "They don't like gay people and they're going to make sure in the eyes of the law we're still considered criminals."

"I read that message quite clearly," said pastor Jackie Carter of the Metropolitan Community Church. " 'You really don't matter so if you move to another state we really won't care.' "

But Carter also offered a charitable interpretation of the move. "Good people make bad decisions, and I believe this was a very bad decision," she said.

Kinzer, a Republican, was appointed to his seat in the State House in 2007. He has sponsored three bills in that time, one of which sought to monitor abortion providers more closely and another of which would have taken away the ability of the state's courts to enforce constitutionally mandated funding of programs such as the school system.

Kinzer also announced last month that he was working on a bill that would direct police in the state to check the immigration status of anyone that authorities might have reason to suspect could be in the country illegally. Kinzer told the Associated Press that he was working with the author of a controversial immigration bill in Arizona, Kris Kobach, to draft a law for Kansas.

Some readers at Topix, where a link to the NBC story was provided, cited the presence of the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church as evidence that homophobia prevails in the state.

"With the Phelps KLAN running that state, why on earth do Gays even live there?" wrote one commentator. "Move peeps."

"The Phelps Klan does NOT run the State of Kansas," another reader fired back. "Who you're looking for, is the Koch Brothers whose headquarters are in Wichita."

The Koch Brothers are billionaire industrialists who, according to an Aug. 30, 2010, New Yorker article have played a role in organizing and financing the Tea Party in a bid to undermine the Obama Administration.

The New York Times reported on Feb. 21 that a representative of the Koch-founded and financed Americans for Prosperity was in Wisconsin recently to lend support for Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who championed a bill to strip state workers of their collective bargaining rights.

Added the second reader, "Gays live there in Kansas because it is their home, where they were born and raised, where their families are. They stay because they choose not to run from the fight and that makes them all the more brave and courageous."

Others denounced gays. One commentator, writing under the name Sister Shirley and responding to a posting by a reader who wrote in under the name Eric, declared. "Actually, Eric the Sodomite is NOT equal in the eyes of the law. In most states you cannot be married. The only places that permit Sodomitic unions are New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, and Vermont, and Washington, DC.

"Other than that, New York, California, Rhode Island, New Mexico will not allow you to marry there, but will recognize your disgusting union. With the passage of Prop 8, Sodomite couples who were married between June and November 2008 are still legally married, but no new legal marriages can be performed in California.

"So in 6 states out of the 50 you can get a pervert wedding, legally recognized by those states and the 4 recognizing states," the posting by Sister Shirley continued. "That's only 20% of the country, Eric the pervert. So, sinner, you are NOT equal in the eyes of the law.

"Deal with THAT, pervert."

Unclear was the question of whether "Sister Shirley" was Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of Westboro leader Fred Phelps, or someone else adopting the Phelps' rhetorical style.

Prior postings by "Sister Shirley" included a response to a claim that "God Hates the Phelps Klan." That posting read, "I am willing to wager that you cannot find those words of Jesus and quote them ANYWHERE... however WE CAN quote the WORD OF THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY! By the WORD OF GOD, you are an ABOMINATION. He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination. Proverbs 28:9."

The extended family of the Rev. Fred Phelps constitutes the membership of Westboro Baptist Church. The group has become internationally known for its picketing actions, in which members of the church wield placards with anti-gay messages, including the group's most recognizable slogan, "God Hates Fags."

In 2003, the United States Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional a Texas law criminalizing consensual sexual activity between adults of the same gender. The court found that sexual minorities have a Constitutional right to private consensual relationships with others of their own gender who are of legal age. The ruling rendered all similar state laws void.

Even so, the anti-gay Kansas law was never formally repealed. Unless the state's lawmakers act to restore GLBT-relevant language to the bill updating the state's penal code, Kansas will continue to have an antiquated--and Constitutionally unenforceable--law on its books.