LGBT Equal Rights: It's Time to Legalize Sodomy

2553 Words6 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: John stuart mill on individual liberty

"The only part of the conduct of anyone, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute... The principle requires liberty of taste and pursuit; of framing the plan of our life to suit our own character; doing as we like, subject to such consequences as may follow; without impediment from our fellow creatures, so long as what we do does not harm them, even though they should think our conduct foolish, perverse or wrong." This quote from John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, lays out the philosophical groundwork for the right to privacy. Although the United States Constitution does not explicitly guarantee this right, the Supreme Court through landmark cases such as Roe v Wade, Griswold v. Connecticut, and Eisenstadt v. Baird have judicially established privacy rights under limited zones relating to marriage, procreation, contraception, family relationships, childrearing, and education.

The Supreme Court has resolved, by a vote of five to four that the "Constitution provided no fundamental right to engage in homosexual sodomy." (Bowers v. Hardwick) This paper will show that the analysis behind the Bowers v. Hardwick decision was flawed and limited in scope. I believe that the government does not have the right to prohibit homosexual or heterosexual consensual sodomy. Anti-sodomy laws violate the right to privacy, equal protection, and provide no reasonable compelling state interest for these violations.

On August 3, 1982, Michael Hardwick was arrested in Atlanta for the crime of sodomy with a consenting adult male in the privacy of his own bedroom. (Cain, 1612) The Georgia statute provides that "a person commit...

... middle of paper ...

...ct. 31, 1986.

* Halley, Janet E.; "Reasoning About Sodomy;" Virginia Law Review; Vol. 79:1721; 193 p. 1740-1772.

* Leveno, Elizabeth A.; "New Hope for the New Federalism: State Constitutional Challenges to Sodomy Statutes;" University of Cincinati Law Review; Vol. 62; 1994; p. 1029-1054.

* Lewis, Thomas P.; "Commonwealth v. Wasson: Invalidating Kentucky's Sodomy Statute"; Kentucky Law Journal; Vol. 81; 1992-93; p. 423 - 448.

* Strader, J. Kelly; "Constitutional Challenges to the Criminalization of Same-Sex Sexual Activities: State Interest in HIV-AIDS Issues"; Denver University Law Review; Vol 70, No. 2; 1993, p. 337-357.

* State v. Morales; 826 S.W. 2d 201,202 (Tx. Ct. App. 1992)

* Wiegand, Shirley; "Part of the Moving Stream: State Constitutional Law, Sodomy, and Beyond; Kentucky Law Journal; Vol. 81; 1992-93; p. 449 - 481.

Show More
Related

  • Loving v. Virginia (388 U.S. 1)

    2066 Words  | 5 Pages

    Hall, Kermit L, eds. The Oxford guide to United States Supreme Court decisions New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

    Read More

  • The Hanging Of Ephraim Wheeler

    1788 Words  | 4 Pages

    Cases of incestial rape by father's upon their daughters, where actually rarely reported (Brown, 131). Most mother's and daughters kept incidents like these secret from the public or rarely even confronted their husbands and fathers for fear of experiencing further harm. Not to mention that it was a hard crime to prove (Brown, 112). Incest has been against the law for a long time- so the father of a household could be jailed a short while for the crime, but shockingly, girls only needed to be older than ten years of age to give consent to sex (Brown, 60). Thus making it easy for defense attorneys to establish reasonable of doubt rape and making the father guilty of incest instead (Brown, 89).

    Read More

  • Griswold vs. Connecticut

    1819 Words  | 4 Pages

    Milbauer, Barbara. The Law Giveth: Legal Aspects of the Abortion Controversy. Atheneum, New York: 1983.

    Read More

  • Essay On Des Moines Independent Community Schools

    579 Words  | 2 Pages

    Remy, Richard C., Gary E. Clayton, and John J. Patrick. "Supreme Court Cases." Civics Today. Columbus, Ohio: Glencoe, 2008. 796. Print.

    Read More

  • Lawrence V. Texas

    1308 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the case Lawrence v. Texas (539 U.S. 558, 2003) which was the United States Supreme Court case the criminal prohibition of the homosexual pederasty was invalidated in Texas. The same issue has been already addressed in 1989 in the case Bowers v. Hardwick, however, the constitutional protection of sexual privacy was not found at that time. Lawrence overruled Bowers and held that sexual conduct was the right protected by the due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. The effects of the ruling were quite widespread and led to invalidation of the similar laws throughout the United States that tried to criminalize the homosexual activity of adults which were acting in privacy. The case attracted much of the public attention and quite a large number of briefs were filed in the cases.

    Read More

  • The Fourteenth Amendment

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    The opposing argument serves as a perfect gateway to the topic of relationship between Federal and State government. In the United States, the Supremacy Clause serves...

    Read More

  • The English Patient

    1461 Words  | 3 Pages

    image only on the surface. He believes in many things that are antithetical to that of the imperial,largely his feelings about borders, names, and maps. When one delves deeper into his personality and beliefs, it can be seen that he is in fact the anti-imperial amidst a plethora of imperial stereotypes.

    Read More

  • Abortion and Morality

    890 Words  | 2 Pages

    Glendon, Mary Ann. Abortion and Divorce in Western Law. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1987. Print.

    Read More

  • The Government is Wiretapping You

    1485 Words  | 3 Pages

    Privacy (Pri-va-cy) n.1.the state or condition of being free from being observed or disturbed by other people. Americans fear that technological progress will destroy the concept of privy. The first known use of wiretap was in 1948. It’s no secret that the government watches individuals on a daily bases. According to the constitution, the Fourth Amendment serves to protect the people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. Unreasonable is the word that tips the balance On one side is the intrusion on individuals’ Fourth Amendment rights and the other side is legitimate government interests, such as public safety. What we consider reasonable by law, the government might not think so. The word ‘privacy’ seems to be non-existent today in the 21st century; the use and advances of technology have deprived us of our privacy and given the government the authority to wiretap and or intervene in our lives. Our natural rights we’ve strived for since the foundation of this nation are being slashed down left to right when we let the government do as they wish. The government should not be given the authority to intervene without a reasonable cause and or consent of the individual

    Read More

  • Emily Dickinson Themes

    1138 Words  | 3 Pages

    On December 10, 1830, a cold winter day, Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was brought into the world. Emily lived on Maine street in a lovely brick home, which they called the “Homestead.” Emily had an older brother named Austin. She also had a younger sister, who was born three years after her, her name was Livina. The first school that Emily attended was a school right down the road from her house. This was the first education that she received. This was the school that her father wanted her to attend. This is also where Emily’s writing career began (Borus: 9-14).

    Read More

  • Privacy Rights

    626 Words  | 2 Pages

    The privacy of the individual is the most important right. Without privacy, the democratic system that we know would not exist. Privacy is one of the fundamental values on which our country was founded. There are exceptions to privacy rights that are created by the need for defense and security.

    Read More

  • Emily Dickinson's Message to Readers

    1269 Words  | 3 Pages

    Emily Dickinson was born at 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts in a wealthy family. She attended an Amherst Academy, which was founded by Emily’s grandfather Samuel Fowler Dickinson. In 1847, she went to Mount Holyoke Female Seminary where she spent a year and decided to withdraw. After returning from the seminary, she only traveled to Washington DC and Philadelphia at 1955, and remained in Amherst for the most part of her life. In 1960, she became very introverted and the only connection with world were her letters that she wrote to her friends and family members. Her alienation from the world and her refusal to get merried made her to become a legend in her town and because of that she received a title of “The Myth” and ‘New England Nun”.

    Read More

  • Emily Dickinson

    1079 Words  | 3 Pages

    Crumbley, Paul. “Emily Dickinson’s Life.” Modern American Poetry. National Biography Online. 2000. Web. 31 January 2014.

    Read More

  • The Nature of Death in Emily Dickinson's Poems

    2260 Words  | 5 Pages

    Emily Dickinson, who achieved more fame after her death, is said to be one of the greatest American poets of all time. Dickinson communicated through letters and notes and according to Amy Paulson Herstek, author of “Emily Dickinson: Solitary and Celebrated Poet,” “Writing was the way she kept in touch with the world” (15). Dickinson’s style is unique and although unconventional, it led to extraordinary works of literature. Dickinson lived her life in solitude, but in her solitude she was free to read, write and think which led to her nonconformity and strong sense of individualism. Suzanne Juhasz, a biographer of Dickinson, sums up most critics’ idea of Dickinson ideally: “Emily Dickinson is at once the most intimate of poets, and the most guarded. The most self-sufficient, and the neediest. The proudest, and the most vulnerable. These contradictions, which we as her readers encounter repeatedly in her poems, are understandable, not paradoxical, for they result from the tension between the life to which she was born and the one to which she aspired” (1). Dickinson poured her heart and soul into over 1,700

    Read More

  • LGBT Rights in India

    2989 Words  | 6 Pages

    Sheikh, Danish. “The Road to Decriminalization: Litigating India's Anti-Sodomy Law.” Yale Human Rights and Development Journal. 16.1 (2014): 104-132. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. .

    Read More

More about LGBT Equal Rights: It's Time to Legalize Sodomy

Open Document