The Flint Hills Observer
April 1997

She Speaks
by Deb Taylor

For once, religious extremists were not behind bad and hurtful legislation which, in this case, came in the form of SB 291, or the "Register the Queers" ordeal (read the related articles--one and two--for more info). This time, it came from the Attorney General’s (AG) office. To make a long story short, someone from the AG’s office opted for sloppy drafting of the legislation for SB 291and decided to include "adult consensual sodomy" into a bill which was supposed to be for sexually violent offenders and child abusers. Moreover, sodomy became defined as a "sexually violent crime." In other words, had this bill passed, we would have been labeled as sexually violent offenders by virtue of having sex with our own partners.

A lesbian lawyer from Lawrence pointed this problem out to the Attorney General’s office. The author of the draft didn’t "get it," but the rest of us did. Thus began the battle to correct this heinous legislation.

Many of us spoke with all the people we could think of who know Carla Stovall. Apparently, in the lesbian community, that includes lots of people. We explained why the draft was dangerous for lesbigays. I personally asked someone if she would explain it to Carla Stovall, and would she ask Carla’s office to admit—in front of the Hearing Committee--to the blatant incorrectness of the inclusion of consensual adult sodomy in a bill which was for sexually violent offenders and child sex offenders. The AG’s office wouldn’t do that, she explained, because the AG’s office never goes to Judicial Hearings to defend or explain or alter its drafts.

Meanwhile, back in the Queer Camp, some of the lesbigays in Lawrence had struck some sort of "deal" with the Attorney General’s office and influential Democrats in the House Judiciary Committee. The deal was for us queers to keep quiet and not turn this "problem" into a big queer issue. The "straights in power" told us that they would help us as much as they could; but if we turned this into a public queer fiasco, they would drop us and our concerns like a hot potato.

Word stretched out from Lawrence to the rest of us, many of whom weren’t necessarily crazy about keeping quiet, but we also didn’t know what else to do. Most queer activists in Kansas got the message except for Scott Curry who, luckily, decided this issue was too big to be kept quiet. Scott testified before the Committee and, luckily, the changes he requested were honored by the Committee.

According to Scott, a woman from the Attorney General’s office DID go to the hearing and DEFENDED the entire draft, right down to the part concerning sodomy. No remorse, no concern for lesbigays, no nothing. In short, the Attorney General’s office publicly and fully supported having all lesbigays register as sexually violent criminals if convicted of sodomy, however consensual it might be.

What a perfect example of what Urvashi Vaid terms "Virtual Equality." According to Vaid, there are those who say they are our friends court us, tell us they support us and everything else but, when it comes down to taking a vote on our issues, they abandon us every single time.

I am furious with the Carla Stovall office. I am furious that (potentially) the worse blow to homosexuals in Kansas history was coming from her office, particularly when she has so many lesbian friends. Is homophobia or fear of upsetting the extremist idiots in the Legislature so strong that it could prevent her from taking responsible action needed to protect her constituents? Are Carla's lesbian friends (as well as the rest of us) so silent or politically inactive with respect to lesbigay issues that Carla would ignore their concerns, figuring that they would forgive her?

No doubt, many will disagree with my assessment of the Attorney General and her office. But, many also disagree with my deeply held conviction that the Kansas Sodomy Law, whether or not it is enforced, is heinous and wrong, and as long as it is on the "books," it will always be used as a tool against us. Even if we don’t get caught, we are criminals by Kansas’ definition, every single time we go to bed with our mates.

I also have a real problem making "deals" with the folks in the Kansas legislature. In fairness, one Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee tried hard (however subtly) to suggest that references to adult consensual sodomy be dropped from SB 291. But he was fighting a losing battle, probably because he either didn’t have enough information or because he didn’t fully understand its implications. More than likely, his discomfort with fighting such an unpopular battle contributed to his hesitance. I believe it was wrong of us to agree to keep silent and let people unfamiliar with our battles fight our war.

Maybe our group of queers decided to keep quiet because we believed these people could and would argue our case. Well, they could not, and did not. Even so, I don’t think this is cause for us to argue amongst ourselves and yell "we were right" or "you were wrong." But I do believe we need to carefully check future strategies. Had Scott not testified at the Hearing--armed with facts--we would now be staring at legislation for which we would have a difficult time reversing. We need to stop back-pedaling and move proactively forward.