Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON (WMAL) – They say Virginia’s for lovers, but you better not make love to your lover in the state if you’re not married. An antiquated Virginia law makes having sex with someone you are not married to a misdemeanor. Delegate Mark Levine says the law is not only ridiculous but unconstitutional and wants to get rid of it.
“I think it’s likely that the majority of Virginians at some time in their life committed the crime of fornication, and any law that causes more than half of the population to commit a crime, that’s not a good law,” said Levine.
Levine, also a Constitutional lawyer, said the law is unconstitutional. Despite that, it’s still used occasionally as a crime people plea down to.
At this point, Levine does not want to see adultery decriminalized or public sex.
He also wants to make it clear he’s not knocking religious groups who preach against having sex before marriage.
“They should continue to preach that and they continue to tell their youth ‘don’t have sex outside of marriage.’ That’s fine, but what we shouldn’t do is as a state, as a commonwealth, make a crime, a criminal offense something that’s a moral decision between individuals,” Lavine said.
Levine hopes his bill gets bipartisan support.
