Happy Gay Sex Day!

It was four years ago today that the United States Supreme Court legalized gay sex. The court handed down it's historic decision in Lawrence v. Texas, striking down the anti-sodomy laws across the nation. The court's decision overturned it's 1986 ruling in Bowers v. Hardwick which stated that laws against gay sex were perfectly legal.

"Bowers was not correct when it was decided, and it is not correct today. It ought not to remain binding precedent. Bowers v. Hardwick should be and now is overruled," wrote Justice Kennedy.

The court's majority held that intimate consensual sexual conduct was part of the liberty protected by substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. This includes the decision to engage in sex with a same-sex partner.
Justice Scalia wrote a dissenting opinion, referring to the overruling of Bowers as "a massive disruption of the current social order". He argued that Lawrence set the legal groundwork for the legalization of same-sex marriage. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court legalized same-sex marriage just five months later.

Many conservatives considered the ruling in Lawrence v. Texas to be judicial activism. Conservative groups held protests on the steps of the court. They knew the implications of the court's decision.

The landmark ruling in Lawrence v. Texas laid the foundation for the modern day fight for equal rights for queer people. We are gay or lesbian because we desire to have sex with members of the same sex. While the right to marry one's partner is important, the right to have sex with one's partner is fundamental.

If it were against the law for us to have sex, it would be illegal for us to be gay. This ruling opened the door for gays and lesbians to be treated equally in all aspects of the law.