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08-16-2002, 08:56 AM
Ariz. Considers Prison-Visit Kissing
By MARGIE MASON
Associated Press Writer
August 15, 2002, 5:24 AM EDT
SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court has reinstated a challenge to an Arizona prison rule prohibiting people of the same sex from kissing during inmate visits.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously decided to return the case to U.S. District Court in Phoenix to consider a gay man's complaint that his rights were violated.
Arizona's Department of Corrections allows heterosexual couples as well as relatives of the same sex to embrace during visits.
The state argued the policy was meant to protect gay inmates from abuse they might receive from other inmates who discover their sexual orientation. But the appeals court said that reasoning didn't hold up.
"Common sense indicates that an inmate who intends to hide his homosexual sexual orientation from other inmates would not openly display affection with his homosexual partner during a prison visit," Judge A. Wallace Tashima wrote in the opinion issued Monday.
The corrections department has altered its policy to allow people of the same sex to hug, but still prohibits kissing, said Martha Matthews, an attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union in Southern California, which served as co-counsel for the plaintiff.
Calls seeking comment from the Arizona Attorney General's office were not returned Wednesday.
Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press
By MARGIE MASON
Associated Press Writer
August 15, 2002, 5:24 AM EDT
SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court has reinstated a challenge to an Arizona prison rule prohibiting people of the same sex from kissing during inmate visits.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously decided to return the case to U.S. District Court in Phoenix to consider a gay man's complaint that his rights were violated.
Arizona's Department of Corrections allows heterosexual couples as well as relatives of the same sex to embrace during visits.
The state argued the policy was meant to protect gay inmates from abuse they might receive from other inmates who discover their sexual orientation. But the appeals court said that reasoning didn't hold up.
"Common sense indicates that an inmate who intends to hide his homosexual sexual orientation from other inmates would not openly display affection with his homosexual partner during a prison visit," Judge A. Wallace Tashima wrote in the opinion issued Monday.
The corrections department has altered its policy to allow people of the same sex to hug, but still prohibits kissing, said Martha Matthews, an attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union in Southern California, which served as co-counsel for the plaintiff.
Calls seeking comment from the Arizona Attorney General's office were not returned Wednesday.
Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press