William Reno Escapes Imprisonment for Sodomy — Eventually

"We charged him on the wrong thing"
isn't actually a technicality

It seems that William Reno was already known to the police when he was arrested on December 7, 1910. In 1908, he plead guilty to assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced from six months to two years imprisonment. The East Oregonian said that Reno “shot a companion named Goodell about three weeks ago as the outcome of a drunken spree.” But he wasn’t just a fighter. Most of the articles on him, are of a quite different nature.

His 1910 arrest didn’t involve any weapons, as far as we can tell from the news reports. Instead, he was arrested for sodomy.[1] The article seems to be inaccurate on several counts, one of which is in describing the other person involved as a “boy,” which strikes me as a little inaccurate for an eighteen-year-old.[2] I don’t know if Oregon had a different age of consent in 1910, but but I think we can be certain that it was no lower than 18 (which it is now). In 1910, no one could legally consent to gay sex, still the East Oregonian’s use of the word “pederasty” seems somewhat misapplied.

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Same-sex marriage — the 18th state at last?

A federal judge in Oregon has struck down Oregon's ban on same-sex marriage and this time it doesn't look like it will get held up on appeal. Previously, both Utah and Arkansas were denied stays when the courts found their bans unconstitutional, however, in each case a higher court issued a stay.

The Oregonian reports that Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has no intention of appealing the ruling; she asked Judge Michael McShane to strike down the law. She also opposed an attempt by the National Organization for Marriage to intervene in the case. That intervention was rejected by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Judge McShane wrote that

Because Oregon's marriage laws discriminate on the basis of sexual orientationwithout a rational relationship to any legitimate government interest the laws violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendmenfto the United States Constitution.

Without an appeal, the law will be invalidated and marriages will begin.

We are finally at 18 states with marriage equality, and this one looks like it's going to stick. Now we can start speculating on what state will be 19th. Utah and Arkansas, you missed your chance, but maybe one of you will get in before #20.

Update: With no one asking for a stay who is able to, marriages have started in Oregon.

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