ACLU files amicus brief against anti-LGBTQ+ law in Montana | TheHill - The Hill
Story at a glance
- The ACLU of Montana, Lambda Legal and the Center for HIV Law and Policy on Friday filed an amicus brief arguing that a ruling that Montana may not force someone to register as a sex offender for engaging in consensual same-sex activity must be upheld.
- The ruling was handed down in May on the case of Randall Menges, who had been required to register as a sex offender in Montana and Idaho after he was convicted of having consensual sex with two other teenage males in 1993.
- The amicus brief accuses both Idaho and Montana of violating “liberty and equality” in clinging to laws which criminalize consensual same-sex activity.
The ACLU of Montana has filed an amicus brief arguing against a Montana law requiring an individual to register as a sex offender for engaging in consensual same-sex activity.
The amicus brief, filed jointly with Lambda Legal and the Center for HIV Law and Policy, was filed Friday with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. It argues that a ruling made by District Court Judge Dana Christensen last year that Montana may not force a person to register as a sex offender for engaging in consensual same-sex activity should be upheld.
Christensen’s decision was handed down in May on the case of Randall Menges, who had been forced to join the Montana Sex Offender Registry after he was convicted of having consensual sex with two other teenage males in Idaho in 1993.
Menges had been charged with “crimes against nature” – at the time a criminal offense – and sentenced to 15 years in prison, of which he served seven.
Upon his release, Menges was required under Idaho law to register as a sex offender. He later relocated to Montana, where he was again required to join the state’s sex offender registry because he had been convicted of a “sexual offense” in another state.
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The term “crimes against nature” is still used in Idaho law, but can no longer be used to criminalize sexual activity between consenting adults because of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, which legalized same-sex activity in all 50 states.
Christensen in May had ordered Montana to “remove Menges from Montana’s Sexual or Violent Offender Registry; expunge all records indicating Menges was ever required to register; and alert all agencies, such as courts, police departments, sheriff’s departments, and the FBI, that Menges’ registration information is no longer valid.”
Shortly after, Idaho Attorney General Austin Knudsen filed to appeal the decision.
“Appealing the District Court's well-reasoned decision demonstrates the lack of respect that Attorney General Knudsen has for the law and the citizens of this state and country,” ACLU of Montana Legal Director Alex Rate said Monday in a statement. “For the past 20 years, Mr. Menges has repeatedly been forced to pay the consequences for an unconstitutional conviction and it is time to end this man's persecution.”
Rate added that anti-LGBTQ laws like this one “have been deemed unconstitutional both by the Montana Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court.”
In the amicus brief filed Friday, the ACLU, Lambda Legal and the Center for HIV Law and Policy accused both Idaho and Montana of violating “liberty and equality” in clinging to antiquated laws which criminalize consensual same-sex activity.
“Both Idaho and Montana required sex offender registration here for one reason and one reason alone: the existence of a conviction under a statutory provision that penalized the act of merely engaging in sodomy, without regard to age or consent,” they wrote.
“Ultimately, the government has sought to impose a lifetime burden on Menges, not for any rational reason, but simply because it has deemed sodomy to be ‘against nature’ and thus deserving of greater condemnation. The constitutional guarantee of equal protection for all forbids the government from doing so.”
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source: https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/595337-aclu-files-amicus-brief-against-anti-lgbtq-law-in-montana
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