Fact-Checking Viral Lists of "Weird Sex Laws" in America

Where do weird sex law lists come from?

Weird sex law lists are mostly listicles: short compilations by general-interest writers who collect old statutes, repeat them from one another and rarely update them. A typical example is a Mental Floss article by Tony Dunnell, published and last modified on February 8, 2021, that names six states with fornication laws: Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, Mississippi, South Carolina and Utah ^[1]. It says their laws "basically decree all forms of non-marital sex illegal," while noting that they are rarely enforced ^[1].

The article is more careful than many of its imitators. It states that many "strange sex law" claims found online are urban myths with no basis in written law, and it limits itself to provisions that can be traced to a code ^[1]. It also makes claims it does not support in the text: that 18 states make sexual acts illegal if at least one participant is married, without naming them, and that North Carolina is one of five states with an illegal cohabitation law ^[1]. A reader cannot check either figure without going to the codes.

Lists age badly because statutes change while pages stay online. The Mental Floss piece is dated 2021, yet it says an adulterer in Idaho could face a fine of up to $1,000 or three years in jail ^[1], a provision the Idaho legislature removed in 2022 ^[3]. Even news coverage that was accurate on its day has the same problem: a February 2020 local television report said fornication was still a crime in Idaho, North Carolina and Mississippi, and that Massachusetts (2018) and Utah (2019) had repealed theirs ^[2]. By October 2026, Idaho belongs on the other list.

Two features make these lists spread. They are cheap to produce, because each line needs only a state name and a one-sentence summary. And they flatter a familiar image of a quaint or repressive America, so the same entries recur without anyone going back to the statute. The sections below do what the lists do not: they check each claim against an official or primary text.

Viral claims about fornication laws, checked October 2026

State	What viral lists say	Verified status	Official source
Utah	Fornication is a crime	Outdated: section 76-7-104 repealed effective 5/14/2019 (S.B. 43)	le.utah.gov
Idaho	Fornication is a crime; adultery carries up to $1,000 or three years	Outdated: S.B. 1325 (signed March 22, 2022, effective July 1, 2022) repeals 18-6601 and 18-6603	legislature.idaho.gov
Massachusetts	Fornication is a crime	Outdated: repealed by Acts of 2018, chapter 155 (approved July 25, 2018)	malegislature.gov (see companion article)
Virginia	Fornication carries a $250 fine	Outdated: struck down 2005; section 18.2-344 repealed by Acts 2020, c. 122	law.lis.virginia.gov
Illinois	Sex outside marriage is illegal	Misleading: 720 ILCS 5/11-40 reaches only open and notorious conduct (Class B misdemeanor)	ilga.gov
North Carolina	Unmarried couples cannot cohabit or share a hotel room	In the code: G.S. 14-184 and 14-186 (Class 2 misdemeanors); considered unenforceable in private	ncleg.gov
Mississippi, South Carolina, Georgia	Fornication or cohabitation is illegal	In the codes per companion survey (checked October 28, 2026)	See article us-law-01

Which fornication laws are actually still on the books?

Fornication or unmarried-cohabitation provisions remain in the codes of North Carolina and Illinois, which this article checked on official sites, and, according to our companion survey, of Georgia, South Carolina and Mississippi. The companion survey, Fornication Laws Still on the Books in the United States, rechecked the codes on October 28, 2026 and did not find a repeal of any of them in 2024-2026; its Georgia and Mississippi texts come from the 2025 edition of a widely used code compilation. North Dakota also keeps a section titled "Fornication," but according to the survey it now reaches only sexual acts in public and acts by minors. The Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and North Dakota statutes were not re-opened for this article, so their details are those of that survey.

Illinois is the most misread entry. Its section 720 ILCS 5/11-40 is titled "Fornication," but the text covers only a person who knowingly has sexual intercourse with someone other than a spouse when the behavior is "open and notorious" ^[7]. It is a Class B misdemeanor, it exempts a person whose liability rests only on evidence given to comply with a provision of the state's Public Aid Code, and the official history note shows the current text came with Public Act 96-1551, effective July 1, 2011 ^[7]. A list that says Illinois bans sex outside marriage omits the element that does the work in the statute.

North Carolina is real, and it is the source of two viral items. Section 14-184 punishes an unmarried man and woman who "lewdly and lasciviously associate, bed and cohabit together," as a Class 2 misdemeanor, and provides that one partner's admissions or confessions cannot be received as evidence against the other ^[8]. Section 14-186 makes it a Class 2 misdemeanor for a man and woman to be found occupying the same bedroom in a hotel, inn or boarding house for an immoral purpose, or to register falsely as spouses ^[8]. The hotel clause is the origin of the often-repeated claim that unmarried couples cannot share a room, and it is more conditional than the legend suggests; it is examined in Can unmarried couples share a hotel room in North Carolina?.

Georgia does not appear in the Mental Floss list, though its statute is among the broadest on paper. According to our companion survey, section 16-6-18 of the Official Code makes voluntary intercourse by an unmarried person a misdemeanor, and the Supreme Court of Georgia held in 2003 that it cannot be applied to private, unforced, non-commercial conduct between people legally able to consent. A list that names Idaho, Utah and Massachusetts but omits Georgia has therefore swapped a repealed set of statutes for a current one.

Which claims are outdated?

The claims about Massachusetts, Utah, Idaho and Virginia are outdated, because each state has repealed its fornication law. Utah's section 76-7-104 once read that any unmarried person who voluntarily engaged in sexual intercourse with another was guilty of fornication, a class B misdemeanor ^[4]. The official code now marks it "Repealed 5/14/2019" ^[4], the effective date of Senate Bill 43, which the governor signed on March 27, 2019 according to the companion survey. A line saying fornication is a crime in Utah is therefore seven years out of date by October 2026.

Idaho's repeal came through Senate Bill 1325 of the 2022 session, a sex-crimes bill that repeals four sections of the Idaho Code: 18-6601 (adultery), 18-6603 (fornication), and two sections on crimes against nature, 18-6605 and 18-6606 ^[3]. According to the companion survey, the governor signed the bill on March 22, 2022 and it took effect on July 1, 2022; the copy of the bill read for this article is cut off before its effective-date section. Either way, the 2021 Mental Floss figure for Idaho adultery describes a law that no longer exists.

Massachusetts repealed its law in 2018, as a February 2020 news report noted ^[2], and our survey cites the repealing act as chapter 155 of the Acts of 2018, approved on July 25, 2018 as part of a reproductive-health law. Virginia needs a longer account. Its Supreme Court struck down the fornication law in 2005 in Martin v. Ziherl, but the section stayed in the code for fifteen years; the television report of February 10, 2020 said Delegate Mark Levine had introduced a repeal that the House had just passed, after an attempt by Delegate Mark Sickles died in committee in 2014, and that the fine under the old law was $250 ^[2]. The official code now reads for section 18.2-344: "Repealed by Acts 2020, c. 122, cl. 2" ^[6].

One more state belongs in this group in the companion survey: Minnesota, whose repeal came in 2023. A list compiled before that date would still show it. The general lesson is that a repeal rarely makes news, which is why the old entry survives on the internet long after the statute has gone.

Why can't the remaining laws be enforced?

The remaining laws are considered unenforceable against private, consenting adults because of Lawrence v. Texas, the 2003 Supreme Court decision on the Fourteenth Amendment. Cornell's Legal Information Institute defines fornication as sexual intercourse between two unmarried people and explains that, because private sexual acts are protected by the Due Process Clause, the government cannot criminalize them, so the laws cannot be enforced ^[5]. Our account of the ruling is in How Lawrence v. Texas Undermined Fornication Laws.

"Cannot be enforced" is a consensus about constitutional reasoning, not a list of court orders striking down each state's text. The companion survey found no ruling that struck down the North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi or Illinois provisions by name, and the Georgia and Virginia courts acted before or soon after Lawrence on their own grounds. If prosecutors ever tried to use one against private conduct, a state court would have to apply that reasoning, and the outcome in a particular case could not be predicted from this overview.

Cornell also explains why the laws survive: a challenge to a statute generally requires actual harm rather than disagreement with it, and a law that nobody enforces rarely produces a plaintiff, so it tends to remain until the legislature repeals it ^[5]. That answers the question that keeps these lists circulating. The statutes are not secretly in force; they are dormant, and only formal repeal removes them.

Dormant does not mean harmless in every setting. The Virginia case that ended in 2005 began when a trial judge treated a plaintiff's own supposed fornication as a bar to damages in a civil suit, according to our companion survey. Such episodes are rare, but they explain why some lawmakers treat repeal as more than housekeeping. Narrow readings also matter: Illinois requires conduct that is open and notorious ^[7], and North Carolina bars one partner's confession from being used against the other ^[8].

How can you check a state law yourself?

You can check a state law by reading the statute on the state legislature's own website, following its repeal notes and confirming the date. The sites opened for this article show the pattern. Utah's code page carries a "Repealed 5/14/2019" stamp ^[4]; Virginia's shows the repealing act and chapter ^[6]; North Carolina's displays the full text and history notes of each section ^[8]; Illinois's gives the section title, text, class of offense and public act ^[7]; and Idaho's legislature publishes each bill, such as S1325, with its numbered sections ^[3].

Four habits keep the check reliable. First, search by section number as well as by title, since a section headed "Fornication" may now cover something narrower, as in Illinois ^[7]. Second, look for a repeal note or a session law that amends the section, because a code can be updated before secondary sites catch up. Third, note the date of any compilation: unofficial sites may be a year or more behind, and some official pages do not show a "current through" date. Fourth, read the case law, since a statute can remain in the code while courts hold that it cannot be applied.

For general explanations, Cornell's Legal Information Institute offers a plain-language definition and the enforceability reasoning ^[5]. None of this replaces advice from a licensed lawyer in the relevant state, which is the only reliable answer to a personal legal question. This article describes statutes and case law as of October 28, 2026 and is not legal advice.

Frequently asked questions

Is it illegal to have sex before marriage in any state?

On paper, in a few states, but in practice no. North Carolina, Mississippi, South Carolina and Georgia still have statutes in their codes, Illinois has a narrow one limited to conduct that is "open and notorious," and North Dakota keeps a section titled "Fornication" that reaches only public acts and acts by minors. After Lawrence v. Texas (2003) they are considered unenforceable against private, consenting adults.

Are dumb laws lists reliable?

Not as a legal reference. Many such lists copy each other, carry no date, and include laws that have been repealed, as with Utah (2019) and Idaho (2022). Even careful lists, such as a 2021 Mental Floss piece, warn that many online claims are urban myths.

Where can I read official state statutes?

On the state legislature's website. Utah publishes its code at le.utah.gov, North Carolina at ncleg.gov, Illinois at ilga.gov, Virginia at law.lis.virginia.gov and Idaho at legislature.idaho.gov. Look for repeal notes and the date the compilation was last updated.

Is it illegal for unmarried couples to share a hotel room in North Carolina?

Not simply by sharing a room. Section 14-186 makes it a Class 2 misdemeanor for a man and woman to occupy the same bedroom in a hotel, inn or boarding house for an immoral purpose, or to register falsely as married. It is a conditional offense and is considered unenforceable against consenting adults in private.

Is fornication still illegal in Idaho?

No. Senate Bill 1325 of 2022 repealed Idaho Code 18-6603 (fornication) along with 18-6601 (adultery) and two sections on crimes against nature. Older lists that still describe Idaho as banning fornication or punishing adultery with a $1,000 fine are out of date.

Is fornication illegal in Utah?

No. Utah's repeal of section 76-7-104 took effect on May 14, 2019. Before that, any unmarried person who voluntarily had intercourse with another was guilty of fornication, a class B misdemeanor.

Does Illinois ban sex outside marriage?

Only in a narrow form. Section 5/11-40 of the Illinois Criminal Code, titled "Fornication," applies to knowing intercourse with a non-spouse when the behavior is open and notorious. It is a Class B misdemeanor and is considered unenforceable against private, consenting adults.