RICHMOND, Va. -- A long-standing “Crimes against Nature” law, which criminalized anal and oral sex in the Commonwealth, has been found unconstitutional by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Though the US Supreme Court struck down sodomy laws nationally in 2003, the VA ACLU said Virginia had been using broad sodomy laws to prosecute people for constitutionally protected conduct. “You have to have statutes that are narrowly targeted to the criminal conduct and that don’t encompass a great deal of constitutionally protected conduct,” said VA ACLU Lawyer Rebecca Glenburg.

HOUSTON – A gay couple returning home from a vacation in Costa Rica have sued Continental Airlines, claiming that airline workers removed a dildo from their luggage and taped it outside the bag for everyone in baggage claim to see.

The lawsuit was filed in Harris County Court in Houston by Christopher Bridgeman and Martin Borger of Virginia, Courthouse News Service (CNS) reported Tuesday.

BURLINGTON, Vt. — In a case action filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for Vermont, Janet Jenkins filed a civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) lawsuit against the Mennonite pastor who was convicted of aiding an international kidnapping by helping her former partner flee the country with the couple’s child.

RICHMOND, Va. — The Richmond Circuit Court on Thursday appointed openly gay Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Tracy Thorne-Begland to fill one of several vacancies on the city District Court, just one month after the state’s General Assembly rejected his nomination.