The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday unanimously struck down a state law that punished underage sex more severely if it involved homosexual acts, saying "moral disapproval" of such conduct is not enough to justify the different treatment.
In a case closely watched by national groups on all sides of the gay rights debate, the high court said the law "suggests animus toward teenagers who engage in homosexual sex." . . .
[T]he case involved an 18-year-old man, Matthew R. Limon, who was found guilty in 2000 of performing a sex act on a 14-year-old boy and was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Had one of them been a girl, state law would have dictated a maximum sentence of 15 months. . . .
"[T]he statute inflicts immediate, continuing and real injuries that outrun and belie any legitimate justification that may be claimed for it," Justice Marla Luckert wrote for the court. "Moral disapproval of a group cannot be a legitimate state interest."
That is correct, and cudos to the Kansas Supreme Court for recognizing it. Details are here from the AP via ABCNews.com. I blogged about the case way back in 2003 in posts you can read here and here.
The Court's opinion, holding that the law violates the equal protection provision of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, is here.