The United States Supreme Court has finally brought the USA into the 21st century by throwing the government out of the bedrooms of every homosexual and heterosexual. This is a statement that homosexuals are not to be discriminated against.
It all started on what was likely an average night for John Lawrence and Tyron Garner. They were in the privacy of Mr. Lawrence’s home, engaged in the consensual, intimate enjoyment of each other that a healthy relationship affords. They weren’t hurting anyone.
The local sheriff received a call about a weapons disturbance at the Lawrence home and went to investigate. Upon arriving at the scene he found Mssrs. Lawrence and Garner engaged in behavior, which in the great wisdom of the Texas legislature, was deemed to be illegal for two men to be doing. The men were arrested and held overnight. They subsequently paid a $200 fine and pleaded guilty to the behavior, which is a Class C misdemeanor in Texas.
Obviously this is a crime of great importance in the state of Texas since the fine is so high. Note that your fine for violating the carpool lane in California is $270.
The reason why this is such an important case is because the crime is a “sex crime,” namely sodomy. The parties would be sex offenders in Texas and in four other states where they would be required to register. That classification would bar them from certain jobs and rights from which non-offenders would not be barred.
So what that means is that every homosexual in the great state of Texas is A) a possible criminal for behavior that a heterosexual would not be prosecuted for, B) a legally suspect person and C) an acceptable target for discrimination, abuse and unequal treatment.
The fact that such a law is constitutional makes every homosexual across the country a second class citizen. It means that any state could change their laws to allow homosexuals to be discriminated against, treated differently in governmental rules and to be considered less than their heterosexual counterparts.
The prior court ruling on the subject of sodomy was in a case named Bowers vs. Hardwick. In that case, the great liberal state of Georgia argued that the state has the right to set morality laws and enforce them. The Supreme Court at that time upheld the state’s rights and said sodomy could be outlawed.
It was an innocuous enough sounding ruling. But that ruling has been the basis for discriminatory conduct by the government against homosexuals because it is the proverbial camel’s nose under the tent flap. From the premise that the government can regulate sexual conduct comes other, less obvious, but far more hurtful discrimination. For example, the government doesn’t have to give homosexuals equal rights in housing. They can ask questions about a homosexual’s lifestyle and sexual behavior in employment applications and of course, there is the military’s ever popular “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which is hypocrisy at its highest, but I won’t deal with that now.
In general, the Supreme Court does not act quickly, or without great thought behind its actions. Since these are men and women who are appointed for life and whose salaries cannot be lowered, they are immune (theoretically) to political winds and the vagaries of the political process.
Bowers was decided in 1986. At that time, rumor has it, one of the Justices was alleged to have asked a clerk, “What’s a homosexual?” claiming to have never met one. Personally I think this is myth. But then again, I’ve lived on the East Coast and it’s not impossible.
A mere 17 years later, which in Supreme Court time is a blink of an eye, the court has done what they rarely do. They clearly and succinctly overuled a prior ruling. They said in no uncertain terms that Bowers is no longer valid. This is a watershed event in the history of gay rights. It brings the full force of the Constitution to bear on the premise that homosexuals are people too and they are entitled to privacy in their lives and in their homes.
In a twist of historic irony, Justice Clarence Thomas, the one who claimed his right of privacy during the tumultuous congressional review of his sexual history, chose to dissent in this case. The irony is that but for rulings like Brown vs. Board of Education overruling Plessy vs. Ferguson, the honorable Clarence Thomas might not be sitting where he is today.
This ruling says that Bowers is a demeaning court ruling. That is as close to an apology to the millions of homosexuals in this country as this government is likely to ever make.
If you think that it is absurd that homosexuals should be apologized to, chances are you fit the mold. The mold is that of a heterosexual, in a marriage, with a child or two, a home that is mostly paid off and have worked for years in the same job. You’ve never had to question your authority to do what you want, when you wanted, where you wanted, with whom you wanted. Frankly, you’re spoiled.
Try for a second to imagine that you could be in a loving committed relationship, but your spouse was not allowed to see you in the hospital, that you were not allowed to inherit the lifetime of memories that you bought together, that the government could come look in your windows and tell you what was acceptable sexual behavior. Imagine that going for a beer with a friend could turn into being arrested, not for doing anything, but just for being you. That is the history of homosexuals in this country.
But it is not the future. The future is one of acceptance. The future is one of the government getting out of the lives of every homosexual and heterosexual person. It depends on decisions like Lawrence to bring us to the reality the boys in Philly knew centuries ago. To the reality that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. (David Pisarra is a partner in the Santa Monica law firm of Pisarra & Grist. He welcomes questions and (310) 664-9969 or e-mail at).
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 15, 2003. Read the original PDF.