# grounds for divorce -- loathsome disease

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grounds-for-divorce-loathsome-disease/206738>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [October 10, 2003, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grounds-for-divorce-loathsome-disease/206738 "2003-10-10T21:37:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grounds-for-divorce-loathsome-disease/206738/1 "2003-10-10T21:37:20Z")

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In [this column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/031010.html), Cecil says:

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> Loathsome disease, a traditional grounds for divorce in many cultures, is commonly understood to mean something like leprosy

I always understood that to be the legislatures ‘tactful’ way of referring to any of the various forms of VD, or sexually transmitted diseases. Was that just my imagination, or could you also get a divorce if your husband came home with syphillis?

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grounds-for-divorce-loathsome-disease/206738/2 "2003-10-10T23:14:08Z")

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According to [this page](http://www.rcfp.org/news/1997/0714f.html), the Court of Appeals in Albany, NY, in a libel case regarding equating cancer with “loathsome disease”, ruled:

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> Cancer would not today be considered a loathsome disease, the court said, since it “is neither contagious nor attributed in any way to socially repugnant conduct.”

[Another opinion:](http://www.look4law.com/topics/Defamation.asp)

> [@](#):
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> Statements that an individual has a loathsome disease such as a venereal disease, leprosy, smallpox, HIV or any other disease which might be perceived by members of the community as contagious or repugnant are slanderous if the person does not have the disease.

Leprosy seems to come under the category.