WICHITA, Kansas -- Members of Kansas' gay community aren't happy as lawmakers in Topeka have decided to leave on the books laws banning homosexuality. The laws banning gay sex have been ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, but the law remains in place in Kansas.
And an effort to repeal it was killed this week in Topeka, leaving gay and lesbian Kansans outraged.
“Good people make bad decisions, and I believe this was a very bad decision,” said Jackie Carter with Metropolitan Community Church.
Carter is a leader of the gay and lesbian community in Wichita and the pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church. She says she's saddened by a move this week in Topeka to leave a law on the books in Kansas that bans gay sex. She says it leaves thousands of gay Kansans under the impression they are unwelcome in the Sunflower State.
“I read that message quite clearly: you really don't matter so if you move to another state we really won't care,” she said.
The House Judiciary Committee was considering a bill to clean up Kansas' criminal code when a pair of lawmakers, Jan Pauls from Hutchinson and Lance Kinzer from Olathe, removed an amendment from the bill that would have repealed the law banning homosexual acts.
Laws banning homosexual acts have been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. But Lanzer says it doesn't need to be repealed because it isn't being enforced, saying “It’s a tempest in a teapot. I don't think it would make any difference. The statute is unenforceable."
“I think their motivation is pretty clear,” said Thomas Witt, chair of Kansas Equality Commission. “They don't like gay people and they're going to make sure in the eyes of the law we're still considered criminals.”
Efforts to reach Representative Pauls were unsuccessful today. KSN was told she was in committee all day long and unable to return a phone call. A rally in her district of Hutchinson is planned for next week to protest leaving the law on the books
