Gay sex is not adultery

New Hampshire`s Supreme Court ruled Friday that if a married woman has sex with another woman, it is not adultery. The 3-2 ruling concerned a divorce case between a Hanover, New Hampshire couple, in which the husband sought to end his marriage after discovering his wife was having sex with another woman. A family court judge granted David Blanchflower the divorce from Sian Blanchflower on the grounds of adultery. But, "the other woman" who was accused of breaking up the union, Robin Mayer went to court to have the divorce overturned. Under New Hampshire law adultery is a misdemeanor, and the criminal statute defines adultery simply as sexual intercourse between a married person and someone who is not that person`s spouse. The criminal statute doesn`t define the term "sexual intercourse." "The Lebanon Family Court is attempting to overturn several centuries of the accepted definition of adultery, which is heterosexual sexual intercourse," wrote Mayer, who represented herself, in legal filings with the Supreme Court. Mayer argued in her brief that the laws of New Hampshire are biased against gays and lesbians." "While homosexuals should be liable for claims of adultery against them as well as heterosexuals . . . until they have experienced equality under the law, they are vulnerable to attitudes and actions both overt and covert by some courts," Mayer wrote. But the court ruled that for adultery to occur there must be sexual intercourse, and homosexuals are incapable of intercourse. The dissenting judges said adultery should be defined more broadly to include other extramarital sexual activity.