The Flint Hills Observer
August1997

Max Movsovitz gets Court Date: Topeka Solicitation Ordinance and Kansas Sodomy Law Challenged
by Deb Taylor

Max Movsovitz, the Topekan who is challenging the constitutionality of both Topeka's Solicitation Ordinance and the Kansas Sodomy Law, has finally received his Court of Appeals hearing date. His hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, September 16, at 9 am.

Movsovitz was arrested in Gage Park (Topeka) on April 28, 1995 after he discussed having oral sex with an undercover Topeka police officer. There was no agreement to exchange sex for money, no agreement to engage in sex in the public park, and no touching. There was only talk.

The Topeka Solicitation Code, however, makes "agreeing to" an act of sodomy illegal in Gage Park. Kansas defines sodomy as "oral or anal copulation between persons who are not husband and wife or consenting adult members of the opposite sex."

Movsovitz was convicted in Municipal Court in 1995. If he loses in the Kansas Court of Appeals, Movsovitz will appeal to the Kansas Supreme Court.