from www.wsj.com – Louisiana, like most states, bars prostitution. But the state also has a 206-year-old law that carries special penalties for those charged with soliciting oral or anal sex — the so-called Crime Against Nature statute.

Those convicted under the C.A.N. law can be required to register as sex offenders.

Yesterday, the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights filed suit in New Orleans, claiming the law unconstitutionally discriminates against gays and others who engage in the targeted acts.

“This archaic law is being used to mark people with a modern-day scarlet letter without any justification,” said Alexis Agathocleous, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents 9 plaintiffs convicted under the law.

“None of [our clients] has ever been convicted of a sex offense involving children, violence, or force,” Agathocleous said.

“Their inclusion on the sex offender registry violates basic constitutional equal protection principles and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.”

At a news conference in New Orleans, attorneys for the plaintiffs said the registration requirement erects “insurmountable barriers” to people who are trying to restart their lives, the Times-Picayune reports.

In New Orleans, according to the paper, nearly 40 percent of the people registered as sex offenders are on the registry because of a crime against nature conviction.

Louisiana is the only state where people convicted of selling their bodies can be required to register as a sex offender, the Times-Picayune reports, citing the lawsuit.