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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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