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LAW - Massachusetts thinks of legalizing common but "weird" sex

Sent from: quark@apocalypse.org (Dave Hull)

My apoligies to anyone who isn't in Massachusetts, or is into enforced
celibacy and other such perversions.

[ submitted by MGLPC@aol.com ]

URGENT ACTION ALERT
S.1032, REFORM OF ARCHAIC SEX LAWS

The Massachusetts State Senate is expected to vote in the
near future on S.1032, A BILL WHICH WOULD DECRIMINALIZE
adultery, cohabiting after a divorce, fornication, and
sodomy. Passage of S.1032 is one of MGLPC's legislative
priorities for the 1995-96 legislative session.

ACTION REQUESTED
If you are a resident of Massachusetts, MGLPC urges you to
contact your state senator this week  (see list below) TO
REQUEST HIS OR HER SUPPORT of this legislation. If you are
not sure of which senate district you live in, please email
MGLPC with your name and full street address.

BACKGROUND
In the past 20 years, over half of the states in the U.S.
have abolished laws relating to private, consensual behavior
between adults.  Indeed, only 22 states still criminalize
such behavior.  Massachusetts and Rhode Island are alone
among the six New England states -- in fact, the only two
states in the entire northeast -- still to have laws on the
books which criminalize private, consensual, non-commercial
intimate conduct between adults. And Massachusetts' laws
pertaining to sexual conduct are among the harshest in the
country.

In testimony before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary in
1995, MGLPC asserted its strong belief that intimate
behavior between consenting adults is an intensely personal,
private matter.  "Governmental involvement in these issues
in particular is a fundamental intrusion into the most
private aspects of our lives," stated lobbyist Barbara
Boring.  "Laws which criminalize private, consensual adult
behavior are repugnant to the basic values of individual
freedom and the right to privacy, and they are an unwanted
intrusion into the private lives of every Massachusetts
citizen. Government simply does not belong in the bedrooms
of its citizens."

Boring further testified that MGLPC has had vast experience
in the effects of prejudice and hatred.  "We are especially
sensitive to the vulnerability of gay people to the
selective enforcement of laws:  we cannot allow these laws
to be  used as an excuse for harassment of and
discrimination against gay people, and we support their
immediate repeal," she said.

LIST OF SENATORS TO CONTACT RE: S.1032
Amorello, Matthew - Rm. 314 - TEL (617) 722-1485 - Grafton
Antonioni, Robert - Rm. 109E - TEL (617) 722-1230 - Leominster
Bernstein, Robert - Rm. 218 - TEL (617) 722-1544 - Worcester
Berry, Frederick - Rm. 109 - TEL (617) 722-1410 - Peabody
Birmingham, Thomas - Rm.332 - TEL (617) 722-1500 - Chelsea
Clancy, Edward - Rm. 410 - TEL (617) 722-1350 - Lynn
Creedon, Michael - Rm. 413C - TEL (617) 722-1200 - Brockton
Durand, Robert - Rm. 109C - TEL (617) 722-1120 - Marlborough
Havern, Robert - Rm. 513 - TEL (617) 722-1432 - Arlington
Hicks, Lucille - Rm. 413F       - TEL (617) 722-1572 - Wayland
Jacques, Cheryl - Rm. 312D - TEL (617) 722-1555 - Needham
Jajuga, James - Rm. 216 - TEL (617) 722-1604 - Methuen
Keating, William - Rm. 213C - TEL (617) 722-1222 - Sharon
Knapik , Michael - Rm. 309 - TEL (617) 722-1415 - Westfield
Leahy, Daniel - Rm. 416B        - TEL (617) 722-1630 - Lowell
Lees, Brian - Rm. 308 - TEL (617) 722-1291 - E. Longmeadow
Magnani, David - Rm. 413A - TEL (617) 722-1640 - Framingham
Melconian, Linda - Rm. 320 - TEL (617) 722-1660 - Springfield
Montigny, Mark - Rm. 413D - TEL (617) 722-1440 - New Bedford
Morrissey, Michael - Rm. 213B - TEL (617) 722-1494 - Quincy
Murray, Therese - Rm. 511C - TEL (617) 722-1330 - Plymouth
Norton, Thomas - Rm. 333 - TEL (617) 722-1114 - Fall River
O'Brien, John - Rm. 416A - TEL (617) 722-1612 - Andover
Pacheco, Marc   - Rm. 413B - TEL (617) 722-1551 - Taunton
Pines, Lois - Rm. 504 - TEL (617) 722-1639 - Newton
Rauschenbach, Henri - Rm. 315 - TEL (617) 722-1570 - Brewster
Rosenberg, Stanley - Rm. 212 - TEL (617) 722-1532 - Amherst
Shannon, Charles - Rm. 421 - TEL (617) 722-1578 - Winchester
Swift, Jane - Rm. 423 - TEL (617) 722-1625 - North Adams
Tarr, Bruce - Rm. 507 - TEL (617) 722-1600 - Gloucester
Tisei, Richard - Rm. 313 - TEL (617) 722-1206 - Wakefield
Tolman, Warren - Rm. 424 - TEL (617) 722-1280 - Watertown
Travaglini, Robert - Rm. 511B - TEL (617) 722-1634 - Boston
Walsh, Marian - Rm 405 - TEL (617) 722-1348 - Boston
Wetmore, Robert - Rm. 312C - TEL (617) 722-1540 - Barre
White, W. Paul - Rm. 109D - TEL (617) 722-1643 - Dorchester
**Wilkerson, Dianne - Rm. 312H - TEL (617) 722-1673 - Boston

**     designates lead sponsor