Florida Republicans Fight To Keep ‘Cohabitation’ Of Unmarried Couples Illegal

[LetTimmySmoke]

Source: TP

Thousands of unmarried couples who are living together in Florida may be surprised to learn that they are actually breaking the law. Under outdated and rarely enforced state laws that have been on the books since the late 1800s, “cohabitation” is actually a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by $500 or up to 60 days in jail. The same penalty applies to adultery – which one Florida woman tried to have enforced for her cheating husband in 2006.

The Sun Sentinel reports that one Florida Republican is commendably trying to repeal these irrelevant laws — only to be met with mass opposition from his fellow Republicans including Gov. Rick Scott (R). These social conservatives won’t support his effort to finally legalize a common practice and would prefer that official condemnation of couples “living in sin” stay enshrined in state law:

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/09/01/309647/florida-republicans-fight-to-keep-cohabitation-of-unmarried-couples-illegal/

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The small-government GOP at it again.

[No Elephants]

1. They waited too long to try to repeal them. For a minute, we had a period of semi-sanity

about unmarried couples having sex, at least if they were one man and one woman. I'm not sure which minute that was, though.

Now, though, the religious facists are trying to get us back to the 1800s and they've been making a fair amount of headway.

To be expected if Democrats honor folks like Rick Warren and attend C-Street sponsored Prayer Breakfasts.

Meanwhile, the DLC website, among others, tells Democrats not to be so shy about invoking religious beliefs in the public square.

[sakabatou]

2. Florida? Really?

[ixion]

3. Yep, Florida, the Land of Cohabitation

seriously. :wtf:

[sakabatou]

4. I know

:crazy:

[jbnow]

5. How is it they will prove if people living together are having

a sexual relationship or a platonic relationship?

And if I couldn't have sex with the person who lives with me can I legally have it with my neighbor... as long as neither is married?

Reading a local paper I saw someone had been convicted of Seduction of an Unmarried women. Catches your eye. I looked it up and indeed it is one of our great old laws. It is kept on the books and sometimes used as a plea bargain.
Recent Michigan Prosecutions for “Seducing an Unmarried Woman”
They found over 30 cases from 2002 to 2008.
The crime on the books is:

Any man who shall seduce and debauch any unmarried woman shall be guilty of a felony, punishable by imprisonment in the state prison not more than 5 years or by fine of not more than 2,500 dollars; but no prosecution shall be commenced under this section after 1 year from the time of committing the offense. MCL 750.532

I clipped the posting to threaten my boyfriend with if I get mad at him. After all I do believe he seduced and debauched me over the decades and it is a felony after all, except when we were vacationing out of state.

However if one of us marries someone else and we do it we really have trouble. Adultery is a felony in MI. Actually it has become even more complicated than that due to the way the old law meshes with a new law
Adultery in Michigan Punishable by Life in Prison

[monmouth]

6. They would need to start with senior citizens. Grandma is NOT givingg

up her SS check to marry whatshisname. Florida is a joke.

[MADem]

11. My first thought, exactly. The bulk of the cohabitors are geezers!! nt

[mysuzuki2]

14. people on SS do not lose their benefits if they get married.

[Ineeda]

7. Targeting "sinners"

will reap them a boatload of seniors who pool their assets to survive, and to have company in their old age, and to maintain relatively independent living. "Lewd and lascivious" is the furthest thing from their minds. How do you prove lewd and lascivious behavior anyway (not that it's anyone business) when people are in their own homes? Here's the statute:

The Florida law is 798.02 and states: “If any man and woman, not being married to each other, lewdly and lasciviously associate and cohabit together, they shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second-degree.” Punishment for breaking the statute is a $500 fine, and up to 60 days in jail.

The law was originally created because Florida was an at fault divorce state and separating parties would use the cohabitation law to prove adultery in court.

I also think the "ANY" man and woman could be brother and sister, father and daughter, mother and son, etc. cohabiting. On the bright side, it makes no mention of same-sex cohabitation, so I guess LGBT folk aren't breaking this particular law.

[dickthegrouch]

12. When their house is foreclosed upon

These seniors should turn themselves in and demand 60 days in jail :sarcasm:
That law would be off the books so fast even our heads would spin.

[Atman]

8. Met my beautiful wife in Florida, where we "lived in sin" for two years.

Then we got married. That was about 32 years ago. Tragic! People in love sharing a home...it must be stopped, I tell you!

:eyes:

My old home has become the biggest joke in America.

.

[GodlessBiker]

9. I think it's better that Florida remain the state in which so many of its residents ...

are in such contempt of state law that they flagrantly violate it with impunity on a daily basis. A new state motto: Florida, the land of criminals.

[mwb970]

10. I disagree with every statement and policy of every single republican.

This is just one more example to throw on the pile. It's amazing that there can be a group of people who talk and talk and talk all day long and never say one thing that sounds true and reasonable to me. Either I'm way off base on everything, or they are. I think it's them.

[Odin2005]

13. Backward knuckledraggers.

[LeftishBrit]

15. They'll have some trouble enforcing that one!

The only good thing is that the nuttiness may prove their own downfall. When they go after gays, they are going after a vulnerable minority group, and one which as such probably doesn't contain many Republican voters. When they go after people who Live in Sin, they are going after quite a large group, and may lose quite a lot of votes!

[ButterflyBlood]

16. My old home of North Dakota used to have a similar law

It has been repealed, but that was in 2007, which is rather hilariously late. And there had been attempts to repeal it for over a decade prior, usually blocked by the same types mentioned here. I think the vote that eventually repealed it was kind of close too. Makes you just want to shake your head.