Minnesota Sex Laws

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/

Last update:   9/7/2014

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Sex Crimes

609.293 SODOMY.

Subdivision 1.Definition. "Sodomy" means carnally knowing any person by the anus or by or with the mouth.

Subd. 5.Consensual acts. Whoever, in cases not coming within the provisions of sections 609.342 or 609.344, voluntarily engages in or submits to an act of sodomy with another may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than one year or to payment of a fine of not more than $3,000, or both.

609.342 CRIMINAL SEXUAL CONDUCT IN THE FIRST DEGREE.

609.344 CRIMINAL SEXUAL CONDUCT IN THE THIRD DEGREE.

These section deal with rape and/or underaged children.

609.349 VOLUNTARY RELATIONSHIPS.

A person does not commit criminal sexual conduct under sections 609.342, clauses (a) and (b), 609.343, clauses (a) and (b), 609.344, clauses (a), (b), (d), (e), and (n), and 609.345, clauses (a), (b), (d), (e), and (n), if the actor and complainant were adults cohabiting in an ongoing voluntary sexual relationship at the time of the alleged offense, or if the complainant is the actor's legal spouse, unless the couple is living apart and one of them has filed for legal separation or dissolution of the marriage. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit or restrain the prosecution for any other offense committed by one legal spouse against the other.

609.342, clauses (a) and (b)

609.343, clauses (a) and (b)

609.344, clauses (a), (b), (d), (e), and (n)

609.345, clauses (a), (b), (d), (e), and (n)

609.34 FORNICATION.

When any man and single woman have sexual intercourse with each other, each is guilty of fornication, which is a misdemeanor.

History:  1967 c 507 s 11; 1971 c 23 s 43

517 Civil Marriage

517.01 CIVIL MARRIAGE CONTRACT.

A civil marriage, so far as its validity in law is concerned, is a civil contract between two persons, to which the consent of the parties, capable in law of contracting, is essential. A lawful civil marriage may be contracted only when a license has been obtained as provided by law and when the civil marriage is contracted in the presence of two witnesses and solemnized by one authorized, or whom one or both of the parties in good faith believe to be authorized, so to do. Marriages subsequent to April 26, 1941, not so contracted shall be null and void.

517.03 PROHIBITED CIVIL MARRIAGES.

Subdivision 1.General.  The following civil marriages are prohibited:

(1) a civil marriage entered into before the dissolution of an earlier civil marriage of one of the parties becomes final, as provided in section 518.145 or by the law of the jurisdiction where the dissolution was granted;

(2) a civil marriage between an ancestor and a descendant, or between siblings, whether the relationship is by the half or the whole blood or by adoption; and

(3) a civil marriage between an uncle or aunt and a niece or nephew, or between first cousins, whether the relationship is by the half or the whole blood, except as to civil marriages permitted by the established customs of aboriginal cultures.

Subd. 2.Developmentally disabled persons; consent by commissioner of human services. Developmentally disabled persons committed to the guardianship of the commissioner of human services and developmentally disabled persons committed to the conservatorship of the commissioner of human services in which the terms of the conservatorship limit the right to marry, may marry on receipt of written consent of the commissioner. The commissioner shall grant consent unless it appears from the commissioner's investigation that the civil marriage is not in the best interest of the ward or conservatee and the public. The local registrar in the county where the application for a license is made by the ward or conservatee shall not issue the license unless the local registrar has received a signed copy of the consent of the commissioner of human services.

1971: The Minnesota Supreme Court rules in Baker v. Nelson against the contention of plaintiffs Jack Baker and Mike McConnell that absence of a specific prohibition on same-sex marriage signified a legislative intent to recognize them. The court found that "The institution of marriage as a union of man and woman, uniquely involving the procreation and rearing of children within a family, is as old as the Book of Genesis".[1] The United States Supreme Court dismissed the plaintiffs' appeal "for want of substantial federal question."

On May 9, 2013, the Minnesota House of Representatives voted to legalize same-sex marriage. On May 13, 2013, the Minnesota Senate also voted to legalize same-sex marriage. Governor Mark Dayton signed the bill into law on May 14, 2013.[64] Same-sex marriage became legal on July 1, 2013 and licenses were issued beginning on August 1, 2013.

HF 1054: Civil marriage between two persons provided for, and exemptions and protections based on religious association provided for.

Minnesota Statutes 2012, section 517.01

A civil marriage, so far as its validity in law is concerned, is a civil contract between two persons, to which the consent of the parties, capable in law of contracting, is essential.