By
Cyndy Cole
Arizona Summer Wildcat
Gay students feel repeal is "one step closer to legitimizing" their relationships
Chances are, some UA students have broken the law by having sex.
If they've had sex without intending to conceive children, have lived with someone they weren't married or related to, or have had anal or oral sex, they've broken century-old Arizona sex laws.
On May 8, Governor Jane Dee Hull signed a bill repealing these laws, commonly called the "archaic sex laws" by the press.
The new law, which will go into effect on August 9, will make cohabitation, non-procreative sex and sodomy - which includes oral sex - legal in the eyes of the state.
"They're making it legal for gays and lesbians to have sex, period," said Keith Tumey, a UA sophomore, computer engineering major and co-director of Pride Alliance, a campus group that supports "queer" students.
"One in 10 of the population is not straight, meaning they're bisexual, transgender, gay, or lesbian," Tumey said, citing the estimates of gay and lesbian organizations. "The main thing I look at is the sodomy part. I think that half of campus would be violating this law."
Sociology senior Jonna Lopez, co-director of Pride Alliance, said the repeal is a step toward respect.
"We feel that (the repeal) is one step closer to legitimizing our relationships," she said. "Having the (old) laws on the books lends a sort of evil taint to our activities and takes our very personal sex lives and makes them something that is sort of dark or forbidden. We think that it's really good that there's acknowledgement that that's not the case."
National statistics in a text titled "Sex in America" indicate Tumey is right.
More than 56 percent of women and 76 percent of men ages 18-44 find giving oral sex appealing. Higher percentages of women and men said they enjoy receiving oral sex.
"It's a victimless crime," sociology graduate student Jennifer Earl said of sodomy, including oral sex. "Both people consent, so there's no one to turn the other in."
When the laws ruled
For more than 100 years, state laws prohibited Arizonans from legally taking part in numerous sex acts, making numerous people - including students - violators of century-old moral practices.
According to UA law professor Bernard Harcourt, the laws currently affect a wide range of people, including those in committed relationships.
"These laws are the most problematic for those couples - gay or straight - in long-term relationships," Harcourt said. "It's a predominately gay and lesbian problem."
Harcourt said couples in the past used in child custody cases, claiming that cohabitation with a new partner makes one party guilty of a crime.
"These laws (were) used in child custody battles, or other family disputes," Harcourt said.
Earl cited cases where teachers and professors in other institutions were fired from their job for their sexual orientation. Because gays and lesbians engaged in illegal sexual activity, they were considered "illegal people," Earl said.
Harcourt said the repeal of the laws was more symbolic of a change in the times.
"The penal code reflects our moral judgments," he said. "It's kind of like things we think you shouldn't be doing."
While some see the repeal as an expansion of civil liberties, others see it as the government rectifying a situation that never should have existed.
"They're just seeing how ridiculous these laws were on the books," said Steven Galbert, owner of Desert Pride, a local store that sells gay and lesbian-themed merchandise at 300 E. Sixth St. "It makes (the Arizona State Legislature) look stupid that they still have them. It's nobody's business what two consenting adults do behind closed doors."
Galbert estimates there are 50,000 gays, lesbians, and bisexuals in Tucson.
"I think it's good for (the old laws) to be repealed for homosexuals living together," said history senior Gwen Zon. "They seem to be condemned in every way in society. It's nice that they can have this at least."
Zon lives with her boyfriend, Near Eastern studies graduate student Robert Wessel. Under the old laws, the two could have been charged with illegal activity.
"They're off the books now, so I'm OK," Wessel said.
On the way out
The archaic laws are on the way off the books, but won't be officially repealed until early August, leaving time for legislators opposed to the repeal to try to put the fate of the law in the voters' hands.
Repealing the laws was an "affirmative act that communicates that we're enlarging our picture of families to include long-term non-married (people)," Harcourt said.
According to 2000 figures, the number of people checking off the "unmarried partner" box on census forms has skyrocketed, as reported by Barbara Dozetos, of the Gay.com/PlanetOut.com Network, two Web sites for gays and lesbians.
Figures in Delaware alone indicate the number of unmarried partners went from 212 in 1990 to 1,868 in 2000. "Unmarried partner" figures for nine more states will be released today, Dozetos reported.
The UA Connection
On campus at UA, dorm officials are a little more static regarding cohabitation.
"There is no cohabitation. Period," said Veda Hunn, UA's Dean of Students.
UA Director of Residence Life Jim Van Arsdel said that despite the new laws, UA dorms will continue to be segregated by gender.
"(UA policy on cohabitation) is a reflection of what society views as appropriate" he said.
However, UA students have options for cohabitation and co-ed housing outside of the dorms.
Future UA family housing will be open to students, faculty and staff, and "committed couples" - gay and straight - Van Arsdel said.
Homosexual couples are often banned from family housing at other schools. At Northern Arizona University, a marriage license is a prerequisite for family housing, according to Carlos Villarreal, an employee at residence life. Currently in Arizona, same sex-marriages are not recognized under Arizona law.
While UA residence life officials have prohibited cohabitation in dorms, Van Arsdel said they stop short of dictating which sexual practices are acceptable.
"There are no policies saying you can't have sex of any variety," he said.
Government - "It does not belong in our private lives"
Representative Steve May, an openly gay Republican legislator, sponsored the bill repealing the old laws. The repeal of the laws - which were written into a bill called "the Equity Tax Act" and passed May 8 - will allow unmarried people living together to claim a dependent for tax purposes when one person is financially supporting the other. The old laws were "ambiguous and used as a discriminatory tool to keep unmarried couples from getting a tax break," May said.
The bill barely passed the state house and senate, then sat on Hull's desk for a week. Despite receiving 5,600 phone calls in opposition to the bill compared to 1,800 in support of it, the governor eventually signed after a week of deliberation.
Members of the Center for Arizona Policy, a Christian-based political group, were among those urging Hull not to sign the bill.
"The relationship between husband and wife holds a preferred place in our nation's laws for a simple reason - strong families are the best guarantor of economic and social stability," the organization's Web site stated. "The state of Arizona should not send the message, by repealing laws designed to protect marriage, that other sexual relationships are the moral equivalent of marriage."
In a letter to Jim Weiers, speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, Hull explained her decision.
"Keeping archaic laws on the books does not promote high moral standards; instead it teaches the lesson that laws are made to be broken," Hull wrote.
Hull also wrote, however, that she signed the laws more in support of general civil liberties than to empower the gay community.
"I returned to one of my most basic beliefs about government - it does not belong in our private lives," Hull wrote. "People should not interpret my signature on this bill as a signal that I condone all of the conduct that this bill makes lawful; I don't."
