After 148 years, it is now legal in the state of Florida for unmarried heterosexual couples, who have previously been “living in sin”, to live together without the threat of arrest and confinement. Florida governor Rick Scott repealed the law that was established back in 1868. When the law was passed, it declared that an unwed couple could not live together. It was a crime punishable by a $500 fine and 60 days in jail. The law has been generally ignored and yesterday the governor finally put the archaic law out to pasture.
The law was originally put into place in 1868 to directly target those who were “engaging in open behavior that is gross lewdness and lascivious”. Such laws were quite common in the 19th Century and even well into the 20th Century. The challenge, however, has been that many older people have found it to be more financially advantageous to not marry so many seniors have just been living together. In addition, many young couple live together without being married. As of the 2014 US Census, there are roughly 500,000 unmarried heterosexual couples living together around the country. When homosexual couples living together is taken into consideration, the numbers can be staggering.
The law never applied to homosexual couples who were “living i sin”. Though the repeal bill flew through the Florida House unanimously, there were five Republicans in the state Senate who voted against the repeal measure. Michigan and Mississippi remain the only two American states that still have such co-habitation laws on the books. And, in a highly controversial move, Mississippi, this week, put into force a law that directly discriminates against gay people and others who don’t fit Mississippi’s view of leading proper lives. The measure declared that marriage is a union between a woman and a man only and that any manner of sexual relations can only be allowed through such a union.
The measure has sparked outrage all across the country especially in the LGBT community because now businesses and other organizations, including churches, will be allowed to refuse service to anyone they believe is not of the heterosexual persuasion.
PHOTO SOURCES: Slate.com, Tampabay.com