# Kansas Supreme Court: Homos not subject to harsher punishment, afterall. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 21, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kansas-supreme-court-homos-not-subject-to-harsher-punishment-afterall/327338 "2005-10-21T21:25:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kansas-supreme-court-homos-not-subject-to-harsher-punishment-afterall/327338/1 "2005-10-21T21:25:22Z")
[Kansas high court rejects harsher treatment of gay sex](http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-10-21-sodomy-sentencing_x.htm). > [@](#): > > TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas cannot punish illegal underage sex more severely if it involves homosexual conduct, the state’s highest court ruled unanimously Friday in a case watched by national groups on both sides of the gay rights debate. > > The Supreme Court said in a unanimous ruling that a law that specified such harsher treatment and led to a 17-year prison sentence for an 18-year-old defendant “suggests animus toward teenagers who engage in homosexual sex.” > > “Moral disapproval of a group cannot be a legitimate state interest,” said Justice Marla Luckert, writing for the high court. Matthew Limon has been in prison since 2000, on a 17 year sentence, for giving head to a fellow juvenile at the group home where they lived. If he had done a similar act with a girl, the maximum sentence would have been 15 months. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kansas-supreme-court-homos-not-subject-to-harsher-punishment-afterall/327338/2 "2005-10-21T21:30:02Z")
Good for them. Bet they’re already getting death threats. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kansas-supreme-court-homos-not-subject-to-harsher-punishment-afterall/327338/3 "2005-10-21T22:48:22Z")
Wait…seventeen _years_? Damn. That had better have been the BEST blowjob EVER. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kansas-supreme-court-homos-not-subject-to-harsher-punishment-afterall/327338/4 "2005-10-21T22:53:31Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Wait…seventeen _years_? Damn. That had better have been the BEST blowjob EVER. He was _giving_ it. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kansas-supreme-court-homos-not-subject-to-harsher-punishment-afterall/327338/5 "2005-10-21T23:04:33Z")
> [@Priceguy](#): > > He was _giving_ it. Spoken like a true straight man 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kansas-supreme-court-homos-not-subject-to-harsher-punishment-afterall/327338/6 "2005-10-21T23:07:29Z")
> [@Patty O'Furniture](#): > > Spoken like a true straight man 😃 Hey! You take that back! ---
**Author:** ![Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kansas_Beekeeper)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kansas-supreme-court-homos-not-subject-to-harsher-punishment-afterall/327338/7 "2005-10-22T02:16:20Z")
Here’s a link to the court’s opinion: [Limon opinion](http://www.kscourts.org/kscases/supct/2005/20051021/85898.htm) ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kansas-supreme-court-homos-not-subject-to-harsher-punishment-afterall/327338/8 "2005-10-22T02:52:05Z")
Its good to hear that gays are no longer getting shafted in Kansas. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kansas-supreme-court-homos-not-subject-to-harsher-punishment-afterall/327338/9 "2005-10-22T12:54:08Z")
Seventeen years? Boy, [del]that really suc[/del] that’s way too harsh for the crime. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kansas-supreme-court-homos-not-subject-to-harsher-punishment-afterall/327338/10 "2005-10-22T13:23:19Z")
> [@Peter Morris](#): > > Seventeen years? Boy, [del]that really suc[/del] that’s way too harsh for the crime. It is, especially considering that both kids were/are mentally disabled. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kansas-supreme-court-homos-not-subject-to-harsher-punishment-afterall/327338/11 "2005-10-22T14:28:36Z")
> [@treis](#): > > Its good to hear that gays are no longer getting shafted in Kansas. Well, at least by the courts… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kansas-supreme-court-homos-not-subject-to-harsher-punishment-afterall/327338/12 "2005-10-22T14:51:44Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Wait…seventeen _years_? Damn. That had better have been the BEST blowjob EVER. Now ya see, that description kicks the ass of the description given by the court: > [@](#): > > Limon had consensual oral contact with the genitalia of M.A.R. Such vagaries fail to answer any of the interesting questions about the incident. \*\*Guinastasia \*\* for Kansas Supreme Court Justice. OTOH, the court vacated the 17 year sentence. So maybe Mr. Limon will get off now. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kansas-supreme-court-homos-not-subject-to-harsher-punishment-afterall/327338/13 "2005-10-22T14:57:28Z")
As reprehensible as I find this discrimination against gays, I’m glad to see Kansas at least had a “Romeo and Juliet” law exempting straight people from prosecution for sex crimes if there was less than a four year age difference and the “offender” was 19. Frankly I’d like to see the statute raised to 21, or even 22. And of course to cover consensual gay sex as well as straight sex.