LANSING — Among other priorities during Michigan’s lame duck session, several lawmakers are hoping to see an “archaic” section of the state’s criminal code banning sodomy repealed.
The law is currently unenforceable, The Detroit News reports, following a 2003 Supreme Court ruling that struck down sodomy laws nationwide.
The House Criminal Justice Committee advanced the legislation to the full House on Tuesday, December 3. The bill, as written, would remove language about anal sex but leave in place a long-standing ban on bestiality.
Rep. Noah Arbit, D-West Bloomfield, said the change would protect same-sex couples in the event of another landmark Supreme Court decision similar to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Among other priorities during Michigan’s lame duck session, several lawmakers are hoping to see an “archaic” section of the state’s criminal code banning sodomy repealed.
“It is imperative that Michigan does not have a criminal ban on the books that can be used to target and criminalize people across Michigan,” Arbit said, according to The News.
Republican Rep. Brian Begole of Perry voted against the repeal, arguing that Michiganders “have bigger problems right now that they need help with.”
Michigan lawmakers also introduced three bills in November in both the House of Representatives and the Senate that would repeal another section of the criminal code that bans adultery. According to The News, they have yet to be heard.
It is not a known fact that adultery remains illegal in Michigan, especially since the law is so rarely, if ever, enforced. But it’s not the only surprising law still on the books.
Act 328 in 1931 codified a slew of offenses under the Michigan Penal Code that prosecutors consider outdated. The section once included an abortion ban until voters statewide approved an amendment to the Michigan Constitution protecting that right, effectively repealing the law in February 2024.
Numerous other laws added by Act 328 have been repealed over the years – including those relating to incest, dueling and fortune telling. But others remain, including the law against adultery, the law against sodomy and blasphemy, cursing and swearing, gross indecency, cohabitation, and seduction.
Numerous laws codified under Act 328 have been repealed over the years, but some of the punishments that lawmakers and prosecutors say are still “archaic.”
Are ‘archaic’ laws ever enforced?
In August 2022, a student at Western Michigan University pleaded guilty to seduction in exchange for the dropping of a charge of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. But many prosecutors say it’s simply not possible to outright accuse someone of seduction.
“There are obviously a number of considerations that go into charging anything, and that’s not just based on my own opinion,” Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit told The Sentinel in 2022. “It is based on the ethical duties that bind prosecutors.
More: Michigan law prohibits cohabitation, adultery, sodomy and blasphemy
“Under the American Bar Association, we are ethically obligated to only charge cases where the evidence is sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law, but also to only charge cases that are in the best interest of justice.”
Savit pointed out on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday that Michigan’s law against adultery also criminalizes those who live together after a divorce.
“Times are changing and zombie laws are making a resurgence,” he wrote. “Time to get rid of these laws for good.”
You will often find seduction and blasphemy in articles about strange laws. But even though these articles are light-hearted and silly, Savit said, it’s not that funny when you think about it.
“Think of a prosecutor actually prosecuting that law,” he said in 2022. “That could ruin people’s lives and destroy confidence in the justice system even more broadly.” It can impact families and children, which is why we have an ethical obligation to press charges. It’s important to be clear: we’re focusing on the crime that really matters.”
But in Kent County, one of the fastest growing municipalities in Michigan, District Attorney Christopher Becker said in 2022 that he cannot ignore a validly passed law. Becker made headlines that year for announcing his intention to enforce the abortion portion of Law 328 before it was repealed.
“If a report is submitted to this office, we will review it as we would any other report of possible criminal conduct,” Becker wrote in a statement. “We will make the decision whether or not to charge based on the facts presented in the report and applicable Michigan law.”
When Becker was asked via email whether this position applied to laws on seduction, adultery, blasphemy, swearing and sodomy, he simply replied, “Yes.” When asked again for clarification, he wrote, “Yes, I would review a complaint if presented to the office.”
Among other priorities during Michigan’s lame duck session, several lawmakers are hoping to see an “archaic” section of the state’s criminal code banning sodomy repealed.
Read the full laws here:
Here’s the full language for laws on adultery, cohabitation, and more:
Adultery. “Anyone who commits adultery will be guilty of a crime; and when the crime is committed between a married woman and an unmarried man, the man will be guilty of adultery and liable to the same punishment.”
Living together. “Every man or woman who is not married to each other, who associates and lives together in an obscene and lascivious manner, and every man or woman, married or unmarried, who is guilty of open and gross immorality and lascivious behavior, guilty of a crime. “
Blasphemy. “Anyone who (intentionally) blasphemes the holy name of God, by cursing or defaming God, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”
Swearing and cursing. “Any person who has attained the age of discretion, who shall curse or curse profanely or swear by the name of God, Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”
Sodomy. “Anyone who commits a heinous and odious crime against nature, whether with humanity or with any animal, will be guilty of a criminal offense.” It should be noted that when prosecuted for sodomy, “any sexual penetration, however slight, shall be considered sufficient to consummate the crime.”
Gross indecency. Laws exist ‘between male persons’, ‘between female persons’ and between ‘male and female persons’, and can be broken ‘in public or in private’.
Temptation. “Any man who seduces and fornicates an unmarried woman is guilty of a crime.”
“You take something like adultery and I think most people, as a community and society, whatever you think in terms of morality, would say that this is not something for the criminal justice system,” Savit said in 2022. “What people do Romantic considering the awesome power we have shouldn’t be involved.”
— Cassandra Lybrink is the local editor of The Holland Sentinel. Contact her at clybrink@hollandsentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @CassLybrink.
This article originally appeared in The Holland Sentinel: Michigan lawmakers hope to repeal ‘zombie laws on sodomy and adultery
