![]() ![]() Such profiling arguably amounts to unconstitutional discrimination, at least if combined with a policy of ignoring offenses committed by opposite-sex couples. Undercover officers in sting operations, who are trained to engage in conduct that signals an interest in hooking up, essentially infiltrate the cruising scene. While gay men have no monopoly on sexual activities in public locations, the practice known as “cruising”-going to public locations in search of casual sexual encounters with strangers-appears to be unique to men looking for sex with other men. Sex sting operations, which apparently have been conducted by the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office for about a decade, target men who engage in gay sexual activity. An amicus brief submitted by Lambda in a California appellate court cites testimony from police officers who frequently witnessed sexual activity involving opposite-sex couples in public areas but never arrested these offenders. ![]() A first problem is selective enforcement. To this day, therefore, in this State same-sex couples are categorically excluded from the kind of sexual activity that has received the legislature’s blessing.Īnti-gay biases manifest themselves in the enforcement of lewd and lascivious behavior laws in several ways. As recently as 2006, the people of Wisconsin approved a constitutional amendment that prohibits same-sex couples from marrying or even formalizing their relationships through civil unions or equivalent arrangements. Hostility toward gay sexuality is not just a historic oddity. In sum, while the legislative intent provision on its face condemns all non-marital sex equally, its history suggests that sexual activity that is often associated with gay men is especially disfavored. It may seem ironic that a statutory expression of support for (traditional) marriage paved the way for decriminalization of sodomy, but the message sent by this instance of political horse trading is clear: while we may have to tolerate private sodomy between consenting adults, we still find it distasteful. The legislative intent provision was added to the Wisconsin’s criminal code in 1983 to obtain sufficient votes to repeal a “sexual perversion” law that criminalized sodomy. Its stability is basic to morality and civilization, and of vital interest to society and this state. Marriage is the foundation of family and society. Although the state does not regulate the private sexual activity of consenting adults, the state does not condone or encourage any form of sexual conduct outside the institution of marriage. The state recognizes that it has a duty to encourage high moral standards. Titled “Crimes Against Sexual Morality,” it opens with the following statement of legislative intent: Yet the chapter in which Wisconsin’s lewd and lascivious behavior provision is included offers a first hint of trouble. The criminalization of public sexual activity and indecent exposure, conduct that negatively affects quality of life, is perhaps unremarkable. Section 944.20 of the Wisconsin Statutes prohibits “lewd and lascivious behavior.” This provision makes it a Class A misdemeanor to “ommit an indecent act of sexual gratification with another with knowledge that they are in the presence of others,” and to “ublicly and indecently expose genitals or pubic area.” According to information released by the Sheriff’s Office, Erickson had followed an undercover deputy into a bathroom, exposed himself, and begun masturbating in front of the deputy. On November 5, the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office announced that it had arrested eleven men, including Erickson, on accusations of lewd conduct in public parks. If you type Erickson’s name into the Google search box, however, these achievements aren’t among the first results that appear on your screen. With a chorus of this caliber, the options for performing great works in the repertoire are immense.” Frequent guest conductor Nicholas McGegan has called the chorus “a real gem,” and Tom Strini of the ThirdCoast Digest referred to it as “the jewel in Milwaukee’s cultural crown.” The MSO website quotes music director Edo de Waart as saying: “The MSO has the good fortune of having a first-class volunteer chorus. By all accounts, the group has flourished under his leadership. Erickson was appointed associate director of the MSO Chorus in 1978, and he has served as the chorus’s director since 1994. But in Milwaukee, he is best known as the conductor of the chorus of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (MSO). ![]() Among other things, he served on the Choral Panel of the National Endowment of the Arts and as dean of the American Guild of Organists. Lee Erickson’s bio attests to his national prominence. ![]()
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