Published January, 2022
Doe and Menges v. Wasden, Amicus Brief, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Lambda Legal, CHLP, ACLU of Montana (Jan 20, 2022)
When Randall Menges was 18, he was convicted under Idaho’s Crime Against Nature statute for having consensual sex with another young man in 1993. Now a resident of Montana, Menges was required to register as sex offender in Montana as a result of the Idaho conviction. In 2021, a federal district court determined that Montana violated both the state and United States Constitutions when it required sex offense registration. Montana’s Attorney General appealed the ruling to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
This amicus brief, filed by Lambda Legal with the Montana ACLU and CHLP, addresses the history of homophobia that informs assessments of sexually active gay men as sex offenders. The brief argues that Lawrence v. Texas, the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down sodomy laws in all 50 states, forbids the government from requiring Menges to register as a sex offender.
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