Can I ask a stupid question? If this case involved rape, or force and assault, what does that have to do with a law regarding homosexuality??? H ow can you use a case of rape to overturn a law on homosexuality? What does one have to do with the other???
Not a stupid question. Because it was the application of the Statue in the prosecution. He wasn’t allowed to use “consent” in his defense as the statute wouldn’t permit it. Often while a statute seems to address just one thing, it really affects many things that may not seem obvious.
These statutes are all unconstitutional via Lawrence v. Texas anyway. VA had one (think it still does) but we never prosecuted it. And to give you an example of problems it causes (along with anti-adultery criminal statutes). In divorce cases (a civil matter) attorneys could not get testimonial evidence about the adultery because the Party always took the 5th Amendment as it is a crime.
In short, these statutes are not only unconstitutional, they cause more problems than they solve.