Louisiana courts no longer can punish members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered community for an act it once considered a crime against nature.
A U.S. Supreme Court majority ruled Thursday that a Texas law under which a jury convicted two men of sodomy is unconstitutional and a violation of privacy rights.
The Court, with Justice Anthony Kennedy writing the majority opinion, said the two men “are entitled to respect for their private lives. The state cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime.” The decision invalidates similar deviant sex and sodomy laws in 12 other states including Louisiana.
In Louisiana, both heterosexuals and homosexuals could be tried under a crimes against nature law forbidding “unnatural carnal copulation.”
Before Thursday, anyone in Louisiana caught practicing anal or oral sex could have been fined or sent to prison.
Louisiana Attorney General Richard Ieyoub said in a press statement the law, particularly the part regarding sex acts between consenting adults in private, now is unenforceable.
However, he assures “Louisiana’s crime against nature statute has other provisions regarding sex acts with animals and prostitutes that we believe today’s ruling does not apply to and therefore we still consider them valid and enforceable.”
Joe Cook, the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana executive director, thinks the ruling is a step in the direction toward equality for members of the LGBT community.
“Courts and lawmakers won’t be able to discriminate against gay people by claiming their lawmaking is illegal,” Cook said. “They are entitled to be treated as full members of society and that is what should happen now in Louisiana.”
Cook said he equates the decision to those granting equal protection under the constitution to women or blacks.
“It was a great day for everybody,” he said. “It’s just not about LGTB; it gets the government out of the bedroom.”
Anna Byars, a women’s and gender studies junior and Spectrum Alliance co-chair, said she and other queer rights activists have been working to educate the campus about this type of legislation.
To her and many other Spectrum members, the decision is more of a symbol of how far their movement has come. Though it may have little direct impact on their lives, Byars thinks it is extremely important.
“This is just a step in the right direction; a stepping stone on our way to better things,” Byars said. However, not everyone is happy with the Court’s decision.
Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Justice Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, who all were in the minority, argued the ruling allows the Supreme Court to step into matters the constitution does not deal with.
The University’s Chapel on Campus teaching pastor Steve Johnson agreed and said from a political perspective he thinks the Supreme Court has overstepped its boundaries with its recent ruling.
“The courts are moving away from interpreting the Constitution and are allowing the culture’s values to inform the Constitution,” he said “I believe that is a serious mistake.”
Johnson believes the morality of sodomy must be evaluated by an absolute standard not public opinion.
“My opposition to sodomy is based on the Bible’s teaching that sodomy is a clear distortion of what God intends to be the purpose of sex,” Johnson said.
Johnson said a court ruling does not make something the Bible says is offensive to God morally acceptable.
“This ruling will increase the confusion in our culture regarding the important issue of what constitutes a family and lead to a further decline in the American family,” he said.
Justice Scalia also said in his dissent the ruling invites legalization of gay marriages.
While Cook said the legalization of gay marriages is not part of the current decision, at some point in the future the courts may deal with it, possibly even in Louisiana.