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Lawrence Vs Texas Sodomy History

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HISTORY OF THE LGBT COMMUNITY, BRIEFLY

LGBT people never had it particularly easy. Throughout history, and even today, they are harassed, convicted, and castrated for diverting from homosexuality. While one may expect this history to cause LGBT people to have animosity towards others, they have actually done the complete opposite. Mainstream LGBT culture is based the around the ideas of inclusivity, protection, and love. How did this happen? Even more importantly, how did we get to where we are now?

POST REVOLUTIONARY WAR: At this time, the United States was just beginning as a new country. As they were a new country, they needed to create laws, and sodomy laws were included in this process. At this time, sodomy was a broad term, including …show more content…

Lawrence v. Texas began with a man claiming someone was going crazy with a gun in his apartment. In reality, two men, Lawrence and Garner, were engaged in homosexual conduct in the apartment. This was reported by police, and the two men were charged with deviant sexual conduct. The two men decided to appeal the charges, reaching the Supreme Court within five years. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Lawrence due to the Texas sodomy laws and previous court decisions being in violation of rights guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. This effectively nullified all remaining homosexual sodomy laws, allowing LGBT relationships in the United States. This was the first of many law and policy changes toward LGBT people during this time, including the addition of gender, sexual orientation, and disability to hate crime laws; the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell; the active and public promotion of LGBT rights worldwide; the inclusion of gender identity and sexual orientation to factors that cannot influence federal employment; and lastly, the decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. Obergefell v. Hodges was a case that attempted to decide many things, but there was one core question to the case: should same-sex couples be allowed to partake in marriage throughout the United States? For this question, the court ruled in favor of Obergefell, allowing same-sex marriage on 14th Amendment grounds. This was a key moment for the LGBT community, clearing a major hurdle for equal rights. While there is a long way to go, and this current administration poses a challenge to the community, it’s clear to see how far things have come in acknowledgment, tolerance, and acceptance of LGBT

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Once at the Texas Criminal Court, Lawrence and Garner’s attorney from Lambda Legal stated that the law adopted by the Texas Penal Code was going against the Fourteenth Amendment which guaranteed equal protection because it allowed sodomy between heterosexual couples but not homosexual couples. The attorney also argued that the Supreme Court’s decision on Bowers v. Hardwick, which claimed that no privacy protection between same-gendered couples having consensual sex was needed, was wrongly decided. The judge of the Texas Criminal Court decided to fine both males $200 because they pleaded “no contest” and the judge also denied dismissal of the defenses’ motion. Lawrence and Garner then took it up to the Fourteenth Court of Appeals who found that the Texas law was unconstitutional in a 2-1 vote. The Court of Appeals then decided to review the case en banc without hearing any oral arguments and did not agree with the Fourteenth Court of Appeals claiming that the law was indeed constitutional in a 7-2 vote.

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1. The Lawrence v. Texas Supreme court case of 2003 was a landmark event for the LGBT community and gave them their constitutional right to pursue same gender consensual sexual activity without the fear of state intrusion. Before the decision of the court, sodomy laws were applicable in Texas which criminalized sexual activities between people of same gender. With the passing of this judgment, there was renewed vigour of exuberance among the lgbt community and for a very good reason. The case was brought to the notice of the police who raided a residence on gun related charges and found two males engaged in consensual sex.

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