LJWorld.com

Topeka — The state's reasons for doling out harsher punishment for illegal sex involving homosexual acts are "utterly ridiculous," a judge said Tuesday.

A three-judge appeals panel heard arguments in the case of Matthew R. Limon, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison for engaging in homosexual sex with a minor. Limon was 18 years old when he was convicted in 2000 of having oral sex with a 14-year-old boy at a private group home for people with developmental disabilities in Paola.

Under state law, if Limon had engaged in sex with an underage girl, he would have faced a maximum sentence of one year and three months in prison.

"I'm just trying to come up with a reason, other than you don't like homosexuals," Kansas Court of Appeals Judge Joseph Pierron told Deputy Atty. Gen. Jared Maag, who was representing the state.

But Maag said the state Legislature had broad authority to approve of such disparities in sentencing in order to promote "traditional sexual roles."

The state argued the reasons for different punishments of similar sex acts was to promote marriage, encourage procreation and prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

But Pierron, the head of the three-judge panel, told Maag two of those reasons were "utterly ridiculous" because the law deals with sexual acts committed by minors, which are illegal regardless of the context.

Tamara Lange, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney representing Limon, told the judges Limon's sentence was unfair. She argued the different treatment of similar criminal acts represented unconstitutional discrimination against gays and lesbians.

"The issue in this case is the disparity in punishment," she said.

The Kansas court earlier rejected Limon's challenge of his conviction, but the U.S. Supreme Court in June struck down a Texas law that criminalized gay sex and returned the Limon case to the Kansas courts for reconsideration.

Lange argued Limon should have been charged under Kansas' "Romeo and Juliet" law, which provides lesser penalties for consensual sex when one partner is 19 or younger and the other is less than four years apart in age.

But the law doesn't include consensual sex between same-sex partners. That is discriminatory, Lange said.

Several Lawrence residents attended the arguments.

Patrick Ross, a Kansas University sophomore and director of Queers & Allies at Kansas University, said, "The state's arguments are just ludicrous."

He said the questioning from Pierron led him to believe the court would overturn Limon's conviction. Members of the Anarchist Black Cross of Lawrence, a prisoner support group, also attended the hearing.

A decision in the matter is not expected for several months and can be appealed to the Kansas Supreme Court.