In 2003’s landmark Lawrence vs. Texas case, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Texas’s sodomy law and, by extension, invalidated sodomy laws in 13 other states, making same-sex sexual activity legal across the nation.
But apparently Texas Republicans still haven’t gotten the memo, because the state continues to uphold a law that lists gay sex as a Class C misdemeanor punishable with a $500 fine.
The law, which has been declared unconstitutional for 15 years now, states:
(a) A person commits an offense if he engages in deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex. (b) An offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor.
Texas Democratic state lawmakers have been fighting to remove it from the books for over a decade, but Republicans insist on keeping it there for symbolic purposes.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Courthouse News reports:
Texas Democrats have proposed bills attempting to repeal the statute in every legislative session since the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in its 2003 Lawrence v. Texas ruling.
But with Republicans holding a strong majority in the Legislature–21-10 in the Senate and 94-56 in the House–none of the bills have made it out of committee; they all died without being put to a vote.
Democratic state Rep. Joe Moody and Democratic state Sen. José R. Rodríguez have both proposed bills to repeal it in 2019, but so far Republicans have shown no signs of cooperating with the effort.
“It boggles my mind,” Moody, who introduced similar legislation in both 2015 and 2017, tells Courthouse News. “This isn’t making a statement about how you feel about the LGBTQ community. … This is simply cleaning up a criminal statute that is unconstitutional.”
Meanwhile, attorney Paul Castillo from Lambda Legal says the law is still being used by some law enforcement officials to target gay men.
“In the years since Lawrence, there have been numerous incidents in Texas and across the country where officials have used these illegal bans to justify harassing, detaining or illegally arresting individuals,” Castillo tells Courthouse News.
He adds, “Unenforceable laws are far from harmless; their mere presence causes confusion for law enforcement and, more importantly, ongoing stigma for the community.”
Moody says he’s determined to do away with the homophobic statute, no matter how long it takes.
“I will propose it until this unconstitutional law is taken off the books,” he says.
Related: Louisiana House of Representatives Votes 27-66 To Keep 200-Year-Old Anti-Sodomy Law
Kangol
And so the GOP in Texas is hanging tenaciously onto a law that criminalizes gay sex and allows creepy cops to target gay men. Gay GOP supporters, talk to your homophobic pals and knock some sense into their heads, pronto!
jsmu
Creepy closet case ‘cops.’
Gregorj
What do you think about “Desmond is Amazing” (11 y) dancing in a gay bar, with men throwing money at him?
Mack
Because Texas Republicans still hoping a conservative Supreme Court will revive the law for them. They better hurry up before they get caught in compromising positions.
jsmu
Isn’t that the truth. The hypocrisy is exceeded only by the homophobic FASCISM.
Geeker
Texas, Mississippi, and Florida seem to attract bigoted idiots like a freakin’ magnet.
Pete le meat
Bigots are everywhere. I’ve seen bigger bigots in California and New York.
michaelf7466
Well, Pete may have seen bigger bigots in California and New York, but in Texas, etc., bigotry permeates everything. There is no comparison. You can find bigots everywhere, yes, but this is false equivalence. Republicans in general will yell about keeping to a strict interpretation of the Constitution and supporting it when convenient, but in the case of sodomy laws and things they don’t like, all of a sudden there’s no respect for the Constitution.
Yooper
Geeker, You are corrett. The Gulf Coast is idiot central. May be in the in the water or the DNA.
Pete le meat
Maybe it’s good to keep it to demonstrate the existence of intrusive laws. It reminds us of stupid laws.
jsmu
@Pete le meat You can’t be as STUPID as your posts, can you? Don’t answer that…
KerryB
Can’t we just give Texas back to Mexico?
Dwik27
A Texan should sue the state. Keeping an unconstitutional law on the books simply to shame a group of people must give rise to some form of action – state-sponsored libel?
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
sod·om·y
noun
sexual intercourse involving anal or oral copulation.
These inbred, ignorant, vile, smcubags don’t even know that the majority of them are sodomites along with the Gays…..
Gandalf The Grey
Considering they practice it every chance they get, usually with underage boys, I’m not surprised they pretend and put on such a “moral” face for the world!
Creamsicle
Can’t a fiscal argument be made further repeal? If law enforcement is making arrests and trying to filecharges through the courts, knowing full well that the charged will be dismissed, then it can only be a waste of the court’s resources, and ultimately squandering tax-payer monies on literally nothing.