Last edited: February 22, 2005


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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