“When homosexual conduct is made criminal by the law of the State, that declaration…is
“When homosexual conduct is made criminal by the law of the State, that declaration…is an invitation to subject homosexual persons to discrimination both in the public and in the private spheres.” – Justice Anthony Kennedy, Lawrence v. Texas, June 26, 2003..Picture: “LEGALLY GAY: 6-3,” Tyron Garner (foreground) and John Lawrence, Gay Pride Parade, Houston, Texas, June 2004. Photo c/o Houston LGBT History..On September 17, 1998, John Lawrence hosted Tyron Garner and Robert Eubanks at his home in Houston, Texas; Lawrence and Garner were friends, and Garner and Eubanks had a longtime, but tempestuous, romantic relationship. Eubanks, drunk and furious at what he thought was Lawrence and Garner’s flirting, left and called the police, reporting “a black male going crazy with a gun” at Lawrence’s apartment; within minutes, four Harris County sheriff’s deputies arrived, entering the apartment with guns drawn..Given the men’s friendship, most believe that Lawrence and Garner were not engaged in any sexual activity. Nonetheless, they were charged under Texas’ anti-sodomy law, prompting lawyers from Lambda Legal (@lambdalegal) to urge them to help mount a test case to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bowers v. Hardwick (1986), which upheld the constitutionality of anti-sodomy laws..On June 26, 2003, fourteen years ago today, the Supreme Court, with Justice Anthony Kennedy writing for the five-justice majority, struck down the Texas anti-sodomy law, invalidating similar laws in thirteen other states, and guaranteeing a right to privacy for same-sex sexual activity. Of the relatively-recent Bowers decision, Kennedy wrote, “Bowers was not correct when it was decided, and it is not correct today…[it] should be and now is overruled.“ Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote a separate concurring opinion..John Lawrence died of heart disease in 2011; he was sixty-eight. Tyron Garner died of meningitis in 2006 at age thirty-nine, and Robert Eubanks was beaten to death in 2000. #lgbthistory #HavePrideInHistory #Resist #Pride2017 (at Houston, Texas) -- source link
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