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13 UCLA L. Rev. 647 (1965-1966)
The Consenting Adult Homosexual and the Law: An Empirical Study of Enforcement and Administration in Los Angeles County - Part I: Introduction

handle is hein.journals/uclalr13 and id is 649 raw text is: THE CONSENTING ADULT HOMO- SEXUAL AND THE LAW: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF ENFORCEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY PART I: INTRODUCTION Sex has known every variety of fortune. It has been exalted and despised by men and societies. It has endured deification by the phallic religions of the primitive world and opposition by early Christianity.' To the newly formed Christian Church, sexual expres- sion outside of marriage was evil and even though it may be better to marry than to burn,2 chastity was the ideal state. Contempo- rary legislation continues to reflect much of this ancient asceticism. Even in marriage, some aspects of erotic behavior have been pro- hibited.3 Sexual relations outside of marriage are censured; and no form of behavior has been more universally condemned than homosexuality4-sexual activity between members of the same sex. 1 For a trans-cultural survey of sexual attitudes, see GUYON, THE ETICS OF SExUAL AcTs (1958). 2 1 Corinthians 7:8. The full text of the quotation is: But I say to the unmarried and to widowers, it is good for them if they so remain, even as I. But if they do not have self-control, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn. 8 Statutes regulating homosexual behavior are often applicable to heterosexual behavior, even if between man and wife. People v. Doggett, 83 Cal. App. 2d 405, 188 P.2d 792 (1948). See also Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1964), holding a state statute forbidding the use of contraceptives by married couples to be violative of a right of privacy older than the Bill of Rights . . . . Id. at 486. Griswold may foreshadow eventual judicial recognition of the right of consenting adults to engage privately in any form of sexual behavior. 4 The early history of homosexuality shows a confusing picture of vigorous condemnation and emphatic approval. Hebrew law made unnatural sexual relations between two men punishable by death, usually by stoning. Leviticus 20:13. Curiously, homosexual relations between two women was not a crime and merely resulted in social ostracism if discovered. EPSTIEN, SEx LAWS AND CUSTOMS IN JUDAISM 138 (1948). Ancient Greece apparently tolerated or even idealized homosexual activity, as indicated in the writing of Plato. Roman law punished homosexuality through confiscation of half the goods of an offender in the patrician classes and banishment of an offender of the lower classes. Bowman & Engle, A Psychiatric Evaluation of Laws of Homosexuality, 29 TEMP. L.Q. 273, 276 (1956), citing INSTITUTES 4.18.4.

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