March 30, 2012 | Sex & Society

The fall of sodomy laws in the US

Believe or not, it wasn't until 2003 that the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that sodomy laws were unconstitutional. And the decision was actually based on a case in which no sexual intercourse even took place.

In fact, as recently as 1986 the Supreme Court upheld the right of states to impose laws governing sodomy. The case was Bowers v. Hardwick, and the Supreme Court was faced with a constitutional challenge to sodomy laws in Georgia. A man had been arrested for having oral sex with another man in his own home, and claimed his Constitutional rights  had been violated. The Court rejected the challenge by a vote of 5 to 4.

Normally that would have been the end of it, as the Supreme Court is reluctant to reconsider issues upon which it has already ruled. But along came the case of Lawrence v. Texas.

The case revolved around the 1998 arrest of John Geddes Lawrence and Tyron Garner. It was alleged the two were caught having consensual anal sex in Lawrence's apartment in Houston, when police arrived following a weapons complaint by a neighbor. Of the four officers on the scene, only one reported seeing anal sex, a second reported oral sex, and the other two did not report seeing the pair having sex at all. Both men also denied actually being intimate, and were fully clothed at the time of arrest.

At the advice of their lawyers, both men pleaded no contest to the charges. The reason: this would open the door to a series of appeals challenging the Texas law.

In the book, Flagrant Conduct, Dale Carpenter, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, looks into the case that followed in detail. Why did two men willingly allow their names, and their sexuality, to be broadcast across the country when being gay was still viewed negatively by the majority of people? Who were the main players, and how did incompetence, and bias, open the door to more freedoms (and equality) for gays and lesbians? 

While many people know the importance of the legal case, few know the details of how gay rights advocates skillfully took the opportunity to strike down an injust law.  Both Lawrence and Garner have since died in obscurity, but the story of this case is one well worth knowing. 

Strange Justice: The Story of Lawrence v. Texas, by Dale Carpenter [New York Times]

Extreme Makeover: The story behind the story of Lawrence v. Texas [The New Yorker]