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Law to Change
Laws to change
In the United States, laws that criminalize homosexual behaviors are known as sodomy laws. Before 2003, it was illegal to engage in homosexual behaviors. However, in Lawrence v. Texas case, the Supreme Court on June 26, 2003 ruled that adults were free to engage in consensual sex without any form of interference from the government. The Supreme Court put some caveats on state governments' sexual morality legislations. Sodomy laws in states like Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas were subsequently declared unconstitutional. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court categorically stated that the gays' entitlement to respect for private life should never be denied and the state should never demean their existence or appear to control their destiny by criminalizing their private sexual conduct (Greenhouse, 2003). The Supreme Court's 5 to 4 decision overturned the 1986 Bowers v. Hardwick ruling that upheld that sodomy law was constitutional in the...
The Supreme Court judges regretted the continuance of the 1986 ruling as precedent demeaned the lives of homosexual persons. The Supreme Court in a 6 to 3 majority ruling also declared the Texas anti-sodomy law unconstitutional. This law criminalized anal and oral sex that took place between people of same sex. The ruling was handed down on the premise that an individual's liberty and personal life should in no way be interfered with by the government. The judges were categorical that the state cannot be omnipresent in people's homes and that liberty presumes autonomy of self. Individuals have freedom of thought, belief, expression, and intimate conducts.
It was apparent that this ruling disregarded the provisions of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. constitution that guarantees equal protection to all citizens since Texas law branded homosexuals as criminals. This made it pretty difficult for them to be treated in same manner as heterosexuals. The Supreme Court ruling…
References
Greenhouse, L. (2003, June 27). Justices, 6-3, legalize gay sexual conduct in sweeping reversal of court's '86 ruling. Cite privacy right. Texas sodomy law held unconstitutional
Scathing dissent. The New York Times, A1 & A19
Harper, T. (2003, June 27). Sodomy laws struck down: Highest U.S. court says Texas statute unconstitutional. Dissenter warns of legalized marriage for homosexuals. Toronto Star,
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