equal protection in texas and privacy

[Blank Frank]

Mar 15, 2001 - 10:39 PM

               State Sodomy Law Ruled Constitutional by
               Appeals Court
               By Kristen Hays
               Associated Press Writer

               HOUSTON (AP) - A Texas appeals court upheld the state's
               sodomy law Thursday in the case of two men charged with
having
               sex in a private home.

               The nine-member 14th Court of Appeals voted 7-2 to
overturn a
               June ruling by three members of the same panel that said
the law
               was unconstitutional because it forbids sex between
same-sex
               partners, yet allows the same acts between heterosexuals.

               The sodomy law, which has been on the books for more than
a
               century, was challenged after John Geddes Lawrence and
Tyron
               Garner were arrested on Sept. 17, 1998 and charged with
               engaging in homosexual conduct.

               Harris County sheriff's deputies had entered Lawrence's
apartment
               after receiving a false report of an armed intruder
inside but found
               the men having sex.

               Under the sodomy law, homosexual oral and anal sex is a
Class C
               misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500.

               Lawrence and Garner pleaded no contest in a justice of
the peace
               court and later in a Harris County Criminal Court-at-Law
so they
               could start the legal challenge.

               Prosecutor Bill Delmore said he was pleased with the
ruling.

               Ruth E. Harlow, legal director of the Lambda Legal
Defense and
               Education Fund, who argued the case on behalf of the two
men,
               said they would appeal.

               "The court's ruling failed to enforce the constitution's
promise of
               equality," she said.

               She said the ruling also allows the government to
overstep its
               bounds by "bashing down the bedroom door" to criminalize
               consensual sex between same-sex partners.

               "It guts the right to privacy," she said.

               Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas are the only states
that
               outlaw sodomy between same-sex partners. Texas has had a
               sodomy law since 1860 but decriminalized it for
opposite-sex
               partners in 1974.

               Twelve other states prohibit sodomy between same- and
               opposite-sex partners. Harlow said similar laws in
Georgia,
               Tennessee and Montana have recently been thrown out.