Colorado Gay Rights Activists Support Ruling on Gay Sex
Focus on Family Says Ruling Imperils Marriage
Institution
Associated Press, June 26,
2003
Colorado gay rights advocates welcomed Thursday’s
Supreme Court ruling striking down a ban on gay sex, even though a law
prohibiting such activity has not been on the books here since 1971.
Meanwhile, Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family
said the decision imperils the institution of marriage.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Texas’ ban on sodomy
was an unconstitutional violation of privacy.
“This acknowledgment of our rights of privacy and
equality are just another part of our place at the table,” said Julie
Tolleson of Equal Rights Colorado.
She said the case was the most important for gay rights
since the Supreme Court overturned Amendment 2, a statewide anti-gay rights
measure approved by Colorado voters in 1992.
However, the ruling was sharply criticized by Focus on
the Family, an international Christian ministry.
“The court continues pillaging its way through the
moral norms of our country,” spokesman Tom Minnery said. “If the people
have no right to regulate sexuality, then ultimately the institution of
marriage is in peril.”
In the Texas case, John Geddes Lawrence and Tyron Garner
were each fined $200 and spent a night in jail for a misdemeanor sex charge in
1998.
The ruling reverses course from a ruling 17 years ago
that states could punish homosexuals for what such laws historically called
deviant sex.
In 1971, Colorado became the third state to decriminalize
sodomy. Four years later, the state Legislature lowered the age of consent to
15.
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