U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Last Sodomy Laws

David Rennie, UK Telegraph, writes:

In a landmark decision likely to revolutionise the legal standing of American homosexuals, the United States Supreme Court yesterday struck down laws banning sodomy, which are still found in 13 states.

The decision reversed the court's own position of 17 years earlier, when it ruled that the constitution's talk of liberty did not cover the right to engage in what society considers "deviant" acts.

That 1986 ruling, in which the Supreme Court cited the "ancient roots" of proscriptions against homosexuality, became a rallying point for liberal activists across North America. At that time, there were 24 states which criminalised homosexual behaviour.

By six votes to three, the highest court ruled yesterday that the state cannot make "private sexual conduct a crime".

Gay rights groups reacted with delight to the Supreme Court's change of course, but Christian conservatives expressed disgust.

The ruling will have far-reaching significance far beyond gay rights, strongly reinforcing the presumption that public morality should halt at the threshold of an American's home - a point seized on by supporters and opponents of the decision.

"Liberty protects the person from unwarranted government intrusions into a dwelling or other private places . . . Liberty presumes an autonomy of self that includes freedom of thought, belief, expression and certain intimate conduct," wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy, for the majority.

Though sodomy laws are rarely enforced, gay rights groups say they enshrine society's formal disapproval of homosexuality, and act as the legal underpinning for court decisions on such issues as employment, marriage and parental rights for practising homosexuals.

Justice Antonin Scalia, a staunch conservative and devout Roman Catholic, took the unusual step of reading his dissenting opinion aloud from the bench. He said his colleagues had "largely signed up to the so-called homosexual agenda".

Mr Scalia, who was joined in his dissent by the chief justice, William Rehnquist, and Justice Clarence Thomas, gave warning that the ruling would make it harder for states to resist demands such as gay marriage.

The test case before the Supreme Court involved a rare arrest of two men caught in a sexual act in their own home in Texas in 1998.

© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2003.