The City Council of Springfield, Missouri is set to remove a 1976 gay sex solicitation ordinance.

Says Ordinance No. 78-224: "It shall be unlawful for any person in a public place to invite,
entice, persuade or to address a person of the same sex for the purpose
of inviting, enticing or persuading such person to commit [a sexual act]".

The News-Leader reports: "Ordinance No. 78-224, which makes it illegal to solicit sex from a
member of the same gender, came under fire in June during the annual
PrideFest celebration, and the outcry led City Councilman Doug Burlison
to call for its removal. The city, instead, follows a different solicitation ordinance that covers all…The potential removal of the solicitation ordinance drew praise in July from the local Gay and Lesbian Center of the Ozarks. 'We believe that such laws need to be reworded to include anyone
regardless of sexual orientation,' [Michael Siepel, communications
coordinator for the center] added in his July statement. 'With that, if the ordinance is not removed, it should be worded to the
effect that it no longer singles out one group of citizens, but to
include all citizens. We believe, however, that other ordinances within
Springfield (i.e. 78-225 and 78-229) address this matter and that the
ordinance should be removed completely.' City
Attorney Dan Wichmer has said ordinance No. 78-224 is unconstitutional
and has not been enforced in years. He said the city follows an
ordinance that bars sex in public places and is not exclusive."

Of course, idiot wingnuts are somehow worried that by doing this the city is approving same-sex marriage.

Assured Burlison: "This is not a measure approving gay marriage. We're not giving gay
people any additional rights.This is a measure, in my
mind, that keeps everyone on a level playing field and keeps social
engineering out of local law."