Anti-bestiality laws have a long and twisted history. They have been distorted, warped, deformed, perverted, corrupted and any other words used to describe “unnatural” sex. In the colonial period, bestiality was classed with other forms of “unnatural” sex, including homosexual sex, fornication, oral sex, and masturbation. The colonists believed that bestiality was a violation of a divinely established natural order.

 “Crimes against Nature” statues were passed to target any form of non-productive sex outside of marriage. Nineteenth-century rape statutes were written to criminalize sexual assault against women. The church called homosexuality a “sexual sin” and that God does not condone same-sex marriage, comparing it to legalizing polygamy, bestiality and incest.

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