Governing by crime is the situation that the United States has faced for many years. Defined in Governing by Crime, governing by crime is responding to threats to people or property using the criminal law or criminal justice system (Simon 5). There are many laws in which the United States has ruled by crime; the one that stands out is an anti-sodomy law. Anti-sodomy laws define certain sexual acts as crimes. These sexual acts were deemed “unnatural” or “immoral.” “Unnatural” acts included anal and oral sex and bestiality; these laws were applied to homosexual couples. Anti-sodomy laws are a hot topic today as some states want to expand access to marriage. The government wanted to control how the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBTQ) community was allowed to perform their sexual acts (Phelps 686). The anti-sodomy laws were against the LGBTQ community and the community is still discriminated against by denying access to marriage. Anti-sodomy laws began before 1779 where it was illegal in all states and the punishment for Virginia was death as the maximum penalty. penalty. The progression of laws continued to adapt to the times. As laws progressed, so did the penalties for crimes, some penalties (depending on the state) were imprisonment, fines, or hard labor. In some foreign countries, being gay was punishable by death. One way to help punish the model penal code created by the American Law Institute to ensure states were on the same page and to help remove consensual acts of sodomy from the penal system (Canaday) . The first state to accept the idea of ​​doing away with consensual acts was Illinois and it would take many years to...... middle of paper...... conduct. This concerns Banished because the privacy of homes was not safe and that is how many people in Washington felt when homeless people "invaded" their parks. They didn't feel safe in parks, and members of the LGBTQ community didn't feel safe in their own homes. Anti-sodomy laws are disappearing in most of the United States, showing that the government does not always have to rule through crime of the highest order. same people. Being gay in 2014 means something different than it did in the 1960s, and so does being a criminal. As laws governing being gay have been relaxed in most states; the laws for becoming a criminal are more difficult, as is governing through crime. Penalties for violating anti-sodomy laws in most states were thrown out in Lawrence v. Texas. It's not fair to everyone but because the world adapts, things have to change.