What was the crime?
Why did he end up in the police station? I can't imagine that homosexuality was a criminal act in 1994?
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MovieChat Forums > Priest (1995) Discussion > What was the crime?
Actually, I believe many states still had laws against sodomy at the time.
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Yeah, it's not ok to have sex in public place. Don't think it's allowed anywhere.
shareXactly, if u have 2 do it (whatever IT is) don't do it in public (not even behind fogged windows!)...
Time is the fire in which we all burn.
In Denmark it is. I saw a review on the news lately about sexcruising becoming a trend for (straight) couples. The comment from the police was that it was not illegal, but they would apreciate you not to offend anyone with your nudity, as that is a minor crime.
shareIn Canada (or at least Ontario) your parked car is a private place.
Indeed, spying on people in their car is what might land you in trouble.
Public indecency, I believe.
No, homosexuality was not a crime in 1994.
Agreed on the parking violation. It was basically a case of hot and heavy kissing. When the policeman rocked up Greg and Graham were only just about to make things a touch steamier.
shareOh, yes, it was, in about half the states -- and there was a Supreme Court decision (Bowers v. Hardwick, from the early 1980s) specifically holding that states were Constitutionally permitted to treat homosexual conduct as a crime. It wasn't until Lawrence v. Texas (2003) that state laws against "sodomy" were struck down as unconstitutional.
shareWell the film takes place in the UK doesn't it so the US laws might be different.
And other than that...I agree with the sex in a public place thing. That must be why they're arrested.
That's true -- I'd forgotten where the film took place. And yes, you're right that the UK's laws are different: private consensual acts of homosexual sex have been legal for those over 21 since 1967 in England and Wales, 1980 in Scotland, and 1982 in Northern Ireland. I believe the age of consent was lowered from 21 to 18 in 1994(?); I think it's now down to 16 in England, Wales, and Scotland, and 17 in Northern Ireland. Also, sometime around 1999 or 2000 the UK made all its territories drop their anti-sodomy laws as well.
So I stand corrected: the acts in question weren't illegal in the UK at the time of the film (or wouldn't have been had they been performed in private), although the earlier poster who pointed out that they were illegal in many US states was correct.
You are correct, Spifflock. The DA who prosecuted that case used it as a political cat's paw to great effect at the time.
What's this week's obsession? Provided that it doesn't involve green ears or ra*e? Who cares?
No, but in the US, in most states, they have a misdemeanor law called "Lewd and Lascivious Conduct" which is rarely enforced against heterosexual couples. Sometimes it is used against women baring their chests at motorists or "mooning", but the officer has to really ticked off to haul someone in on that charge. Mostly, it merits a dirtly look, or a comment like "Get a room!"
There is slways "Disturbing the Peace" of the person does the smooching as an intentional act to annoy the innocent viewers. That did not happen here.
What they were doing was not sodomy, as it involved only facial touching. The cops just wanted to bully and intimidate the fellows.
"When you throw dirt, you lose ground" --old proverbshare
You raised a really good question and I wondered the same thing when I watched this movie for the first time last night.
To me, it looked like they weren't having sex, yet. Just some hot & heavy kissing; unless, I didn't watch it well enough.
I wondered about this when I first saw the film as well.
Remember the scene in which the housekeeper brings Greg's breakfast with the newspaper (with him on the cover) - we can see that part of the headline says, "..Gross indecency". That was the crime - indulging in a sexual act in a public place. Notice, too, that Greg & Graham were engaging in a bit more than kissing as well. You can hear Graham unzip Greg's fly just before the officer interrupts them.
'If you sleep through life, you wake up dead.'
I just watched the original UK version, and not only does Graham unzip Greg's fly but his head drops below the camera line. He is clearly going down on Greg when the officer arrives. The US version cut about 7 minutes off the film, so it's possible they cut a few seconds off this scene to make it less explicit. And from the sound of it, totally confusing!
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