Lambda Praises Gay Rights Ruling
Washington
Times (owned by the Unification Church), June 26, 2003
By United Press International (also owned by the
Unification Church)
WASHINGTON—The Lambda Legal
Defense & Educational Fund called Thurday’s ruling by the Supreme Court
on gay rights a “landmark.”
“Today the U.S. Supreme Court closed the door on an era
of intolerance and ushered in a new era of respect and equal treatment for gay
Americans,” said Ruth Harlow, legal director for the lesbian and gay civil
rights group.
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down Texas’ law against
homosexual sodomy, which criminalized oral and anal sex by consenting gay
couples.
Lambda represented John Lawrence and Tyron Garner, who
were arrested in Lawrence’s Houston home and jailed overnight after officers
responding to a false report from an acquaintance found the men engaged in
private, consensual sex.
Once convicted, they were forced to pay fines and are
now considered sex offenders in several states. In addition to Texas, 12
states have consensual sodomy laws, some of which apply to straight and gay
adults alike.
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