News
2006-02-03
ACLU defends
Oklahoma minister arrested for soliciting sex
A Southern
Baptist preacher who solicited sex from a male police
officer did nothing wrong, the ACLU says.
Charges against
an antigay Southern Baptist minister arrested for
soliciting sex from a male police officer in Oklahoma should
be dropped on constitutional grounds, says the
American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU filed a
friend-of-the-court brief on Wednesday in an effort to
dismiss the case against 60-year-old pastor Lonnie Latham,
arrested in January on a misdemeanor charge of
“offering to engage in an act of
lewdness” with an undercover police officer. Latham
invited the officer up to his Oklahoma City motel room
for oral sex but did not offer money for the act,
according to the police report.
“The
Supreme Court [via the Lawrence v. Texas
decision] had made it crystal clear that when it comes to
their sex lives, consenting adults are free to do
whatever they please in private,” said Joann
Bell, executive director of the ACLU of Oklahoma. “It
is not a crime merely to invite someone to have
completely lawful sex. If it were otherwise, every bar
in the state may as well shut its doors.”
Latham could face
a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500 if convicted.
After being released from jail on a $500 bond January 4,
Latham made to reporters the now seemingly
contradictory statement of “I was set up. I was
in the area pastoring to police.”
Following his
arrest, Latham resigned as senior pastor from South Tulsa
Baptist Church. According to the Associated Press, Latham
has spoken out against same-sex marriage and in
support of a directive urging the Southern Baptist
Convention's 42,000 churches to befriend gays and
lesbians and try to convince them they can become straight
"if they accept Jesus Christ as their savior and
reject their sinful, destructive lifestyle."
(Advocate.com)
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