expressing its disgust toward the practice and the fact that Johnson was "a negro", the court ruled that fellatio could not be criminal without defined legislation. In response, the state passed a law in 1923 prohibiting "sodomy or any other detestable and abominable crime against nature" that was committed "with either the sexual organs or the mouth", with a penalty varying between three and twenty years' imprisonment. In 1969, the Utah State Legislature reduced the penalty for sodomy from a felony to a misdemeanor. It also removed the reference to "detestable and abominable crime against nature" and reduced the penalty for consensual acts to a maximum of six months in county jail, and/or a fine of up to $299. In 1973, a comprehensive revision of the law resulted in married couples being exempt from prosecution. The revision also established that an act of sodomy could be completed by "any touching". The sodomy statute would remain in force until 2003 when the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated all state sodomy laws with its landmark 6 to 3 opinion in Lawrence v. Texas. The opinion stated that private consensual sexual conduct is protected by the due process and equal protection rights that are guaranteed by the United States Constitution. In 1925, the Utah State Legislature passed a sterilization law, providing for the possible sterilization of state inmates afflicted with "habitual sexual criminal tendencies". The statute was upheld by the state Supreme Court in 1929 in the case of Davis v. Walton. By the end of 1948, 555 persons had been sterilized in Utah, all of them "insane or mentally retarded". The law was amended in 1975 to apply only to the "mentally redarded". Openly gay Utah Senator Scott McCoy (D-Salt Lake) unsuccessfully sponsored the bill S.B. 169 ("Sodomy Amendments") in 2007. The bill would have amended the state sodomy law by repealing its unconstitutional parts. The bill failed without consideration. After lobbying in 2011 by gay activist David Nelson, the Utah Department of Public Safety amended its administrative rule which restricted the issuance of the state concealed-firearm permit to individuals who were ever convicted of violating the state sodomy law. On January 29, 2019, the state House approved a bill to repeal unconstitutional provisions in regard to sodomy and adultery in a 74–0 vote with 1 abstention. It was approved by the Senate on February 22 in a 25–2 vote with 2 abstentions,