Lawrence vs. Texas: The Fight for Sexual Privacy

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Texas, and many other states have always had controversies when it came to criminalizing sodomy. By definition, it is sexual intercourse involving anal or oral copulation. Sodomy was an offense that was added to the list of others in 1943. Thirty years later, it passed a law containing the “Homosexual Conduct” law, which banned both oral and anal sex, only when done with another person of the same sex. This law was enforced in public areas but rarely in private residency. In the past, the court at one point did approve the “privacy” rights for both married and unmarried heterosexuals and pregnant women, according to The New York Times. Many law cases in the past have dealt with this issue before, for example; Bowers vs. Hardwick which resulted the involvement of a police officer who had encountered a gay couple having sex in a private residence. One case that its momentous decision in 2003 overturned Bowers involving sexual privacy, personal self-respect, intimate relationships, and shifting views of family in America is called Lawrence vs. Texas. Lawrence who was born on August 2, 1943 …show more content…

In April 2002, Texas’s highest criminal court, The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, refuses to hear Lambda Legal’s appeal. In July 2002, Lambda Legal request U.S. Supreme Court to review the constitutional regarding The “Homosexual Conduct” law. The case presents the high court with two independent Constitutional claims that Lambda Legal urges to review: 1) Equal protection 2) Rights of privacy and liberty. December 2002, U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear the case. In January 2003, Lambda Legal files its brief urging U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Texas’s “Homosexual Conduct” law. March 2003, Lambda Legal presents oral arguments before U.S. Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the Texas “Homosexual Conduct”

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