A History of Despicable Legal Relics

In June 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court voided all sodomy laws in the 50 states with its 6 to 3 ruling in Lawrence v. Texas.

In an almost unprecedented move, it simultaneously overturned its 5 to 4 decision in Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) with its homophobic addendum that although heterosexuals can enjoy a constitutional guarantee of the right of privacy in the bedroom, homosexuals should not expect or share that same privilege.

Whereas civil libertarians correctly hailed the vote as a landmark victory for gay rights, far too many Americans easily overlooked the fact that many of the nation's antediluvian sodomy statutes applied equally to straights and gays.

In some states, such as Florida, the code even criminalized both oral and anal sex between legally married spouses.

However, these antiquated penalties became a gay rights issue. The laws were rarely enforced with straights, but routinely exploited to harass, persecute and prosecute gays and wreak much physical as well as psychological havoc.

William N. Eskridge Jr., legal scholar, gays rights advocate and Yale Law School professor, does more than yeoman's service in detailing the genesis and enactment of these anti-sexual proscriptions.

And the etymology of the term "sodomy," as it transmogrified from describing only male-on-male anal intromission to generically include male-on-female rear entry, gay and straight fellatio and cunnilingus, and even animal contacts, provides a totally separate and fascinating historical record.

Thanks to St. Paul's denunciation of sodomy as a "crime against nature" (Romans 1:26-27), laws were implemented to equate sin with crime and to demonize all non-procreative sex acts as appealing only to mankind's baser, lower animal nature whose sole purpose resulted in hedonistic gratification as a legitimate end in itself.

At least ordinary carnal knowledge, so the champions of moral purity reasoned, can be justified and rationalized as having the lofty and necessary purpose of perpetuating the race.

Although the author employs dense legalese throughout much of this volume, his backstories of both the 1986 and 2003 cases offer an engrossing, reader-friendly narrative as enjoyable as any good detective novel.

(Eskridge contributed much influential material to assist Lambda Legal in their victorious challenge.)

This tome represents the very first history of these despicable legal relics. It offers incontrovertible proof of how hard-won sexual freedom has been in our repressed, puritanical homeland.