Will Pam Bondi enforce shacking up law?
06/04/2014
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi says she is fighting a lawsuit challenging the state's constitution ban on same-sex marriage. Bondi insists she is doing it because as Attorney General it is her job to protect us.
In a press release posted on her campaign website, Bondi says: "anything less than the best defense of our voters' policy preferences would disenfranchise the electorate, undermine the judicial process, and cast aside the professional responsibility that guides me every day as Attorney General."
Of course, this is nonsense. Attorneys General in other states have not pursued similar cases in light of a series of federal court decisions saying state bans of same sex marriage violate the U.S. Constitution.
Bondi explains her position this way: “This case is not about which policy choice is better or worse. And this case is not about whether the debate should continue (which it surely will). This case is about whether states can make their own determinations."
Indeed. And Florida has made some interesting determinations.
You better not be living with someone of the opposite sex. It is against the law.
Yup. Florida is one of only three state that forbids a man and woman from living together.
Section 798.02, F.S.Lewd and lascivious behavior.—If any man and woman, not being married to each other, lewdly and lasciviously associate and cohabit together, or if any man or woman, married or unmarried, engages in open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior, they shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree.
Cohabitation - sometimes called "shacking up" or "living in sin" is against the law.
This may be a law that Attorney General Bondi would have trouble enforcing - unless of course she is not living with the man who could become her third husband.
Do Floridians want this law enforced?
Apparently we do.
During this past legislative session, the Florida Senate introduced a bill to repeal the law. According to a Senate staff analysis Florida's ban on men and women living together first became law in 1868.
Today, Florida is joined by Michigan and Mississippi in making cohabitation illegal.
Apparently the Senate believes Floridians want to keep this law on the books. The repeal bill died in committee. In fact, both the House and the Senate have repeatedly failed to pass bills that would repeal the law.
In her statement, Bondi reminded folks she is: "keeping with my sworn duty to uphold the laws of the land."
If our Attorney General is violating the cohabitation law - should she turn herself in?
thank you for this.
Posted by: maryjane | 05/18/2017 at 02:12 AM
Pam Bondi? More like Pam Boring.
Posted by: Deedee | 07/19/2014 at 01:49 PM
I find it hard to believe that anyone adult didn't know it was not legal to shack-up in Florida, it has been the law for at least 50yrs. But you need to remember that you could have sex with an animal and it was not against the law until a man in Tallahassee had sex with his German Shepherd did the Legislature Act ( the offender was not a member of the Legislature)
Posted by: Arnold Ziffell | 06/05/2014 at 08:11 PM
Elect me, Bill Wohlsifer for Florida Attorney General (LPF)and I will request the court enter a consent judgment in favor of the plaintiffs and save everyone time, money and anxiety. The marriage ban is unconstitutional under the US v. Windsor decision. Pam Bondi's defense is political posturing, not based on most recent legal precedent. The Libertarian Party has supported same-sex marriage consistently since 1972. Please visit my website and support my campaign. I do not have the $2M Ms. Bondi has. I need the peoples' support to elect the Peoples' Attorney.
Posted by: Bill Wohlsifer, Esq. | 06/05/2014 at 08:18 AM