Matthew Limon: Appeal denied, gay sex carries stiffer penalties
The Kansas State Court of Appeals ruled Friday in the Matthew Limon case that Kansas can punish illegal sex with children more harshly when homosexual acts are involved. Judge Henry W. Green Jr. wrote in the 2-1 decision that legislators could justify differing penalties for heterosexual versus homosexual sodomy in plenty of ways, including higher health risks or an attempt to "encourage and preserve the traditional sexual mores of society." The ruling rejected an appeal by developmentally disabled prisoner Matthew R. Limon, who was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for having consensual oral sex when he was 18 with a 14-year-old boy in 2000. Had Limon's partner been an underage girl, he could have been sentenced to a maximum of one year and three months in prison under the state's Romeo and Juliet law.
CBS News
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