Political Fantasy

State legislators in Louisiana have voted to uphold a law that ban "Crimes Against Nature."  That is, sexual crimes against nature, which this law from 1805 defines as homosexual sex, as well as heterosexual oral and anal sex. It's lead to a new level of head shaking.

First of all, don't worry, the law is purely symbolic - the U.S. supreme Court has already struck down laws restricting consensual sex as unconstitutional - so there's no need to cancel your Mardis Gras trip next year.

Of course that brings up point number one: should the state with New Orleans in it really be taking such a prudish stance? Yes, I know there's more to the state than the Big Easy, and rural areas are so often culturally different than the metropolises they abut. But still, it's hard to believe this won't lead to secession.

Judging by people's reaction to this vote, there seems to be a feeling that we've entered a new level of political hypocrisy beyond anything we've seen before. We're used to the idea of big symbolic gestures: Republicans in the house have voted to repeal Obamacare forty times, always knowing the Democrat-majority senate would overrule. So passing a law that's already struck down isn't that big of a surprise.

And we've seen plenty of examples of politicians making a show of swimming against culture's tide. So it's also not surprising that they'd like to ban homosexuality while other states are allowing gay marriage. Sometimes, politicians are so intent on defining a clear public image that they'll become more extreme than their own supporters, as when they opposed gun-purchase background-checks even when most gun owners supported them.

But keeping a ban on non-standard hetero sex? Now we're talking about politicians banning something most of the public has done, and most of them have done. So now legality has reached a new level of irrelevance. We're passing laws that don't apply in the real world, that no one believes in, and no one follows.