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Jordan Blair Woods

2009

Equal protection

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Don't Tap, Don't Stare, And Keep Your Hands To Yourself! Critiquing The Legality Of Gay Sting Operations, Jordan Woods May 2009

Don't Tap, Don't Stare, And Keep Your Hands To Yourself! Critiquing The Legality Of Gay Sting Operations, Jordan Woods

Jordan Blair Woods

This Article demonstrates that the execution and design of gay sting operations are constitutionally suspect. I posit that law enforcement officials are punishing men for constitutionally permissible expressive conduct conveying messages of sexual attraction and desire, and are therefore executing gay sting operations in ways that violate First Amendment free speech guarantees. Moreover, despite the fact that people of all sexual orientations have public sex, gay sting operations are only being targeted against men who have sex with other men. Thus, I argue that the selective enforcement of lewd conduct laws raises doubts about the legality of gay sting operations …