March 19, 2010 Newsletter

Explicit Sex Laws Necessary in This Topsy-turvy World

When Georgia’s incest law was written, it addressed only opposite-sex intimate contact with related individuals. Judges could discern when to apply the incest law to same-sex relationships and, no doubt, did so. Now, it’s necessary to pass a specific law prohibiting same-sex incest. So, in 2007, Senator Preston Smith introduced S.B. 54 prohibiting intercourse and sodomy with relatives of either sex. It passed the Senate, but died in the House. So, he’s trying again.

S.B. 439, introduced March 8th, requires gender neutral incest laws, stating that a person commits incest when engaging in sexual intercourse or sodomy with a relative. Defines incest couplings as follows: father with child or stepchild; mother with child or stepchild; whole or half sibling with whole or half sibling; grandparent with grandchild; aunt with niece or nephew; uncle with niece or nephew. Passed the Senate 42 – 0, March 18, 2010 and goes to the House.

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