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Essay Subject: Examines changing public views & laws, focusing on state sodomy statutes.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines changing public views & laws, focusing on state sodomy statutes. Paper Introduction: This paper is a discussion of the changing attitudes toward homosexual rights in America, with particular emphasis on sodomy laws, especially those in Texas. Laws designed to legislate sexual behavior have tended to reflect the prevailing social opinions regarding those behaviors. Homosexuality, which has a long history of social disapproval, has slowly been gaining acceptance, but it remains a difficult issue, and this difficulty is reflected in the ways in which government, at the local, state, and federal levels, has tried to regulate it. Texas remains one of the last states to maintain a law against sodomy that is aimed particularly at limiting and punishing homosexual behavior. Such laws illustrate the conflict between the individual's right to privacy and the desire of government to set standards of public behavior. Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The Advocate, pp. Gay men, lesbians, and the law. Police entered Lawrence's apartment andfound the men engaged in an act of sodomy. This ongoing debate will continue tobe reflected in government at all levels, as society tries to decide whatis "right." References Adam, B. OnNovember 2 , 1997, police in Houston responded to what turned out to be afalse report of a man with a gun. Georgia's law, for instance, was first passed in 1834. It faced itsgreatest historic test in 1982, with the case of a 28-year-old gay mannamed Michael Hardwick. 1-2. All are thetargets of gay rights activists and supporters of privacy issues. E. The ruling found that the defense's claim that the right toprivacy included protection of the right to privately practice homosexualsodomy was "facetious at best." Robson (1997) writes, "In other words,gay men and lesbians have no federal constitutional right to sexualexpression" (p. The two were arrested, thrownin jail, and spent the night behind bars before posting bail the next day.The case is making its way through the Texas court system. The founders of the United States of America came out of British andWestern European cultures that severely punished homosexual behavior. Even some who believethat individuals are born either homosexual or heterosexual also believethat homosexuals can deny their biological heritage and, if not gostraight, can at least choose to live a celibate life. These examples of continued resistance indicatethe kind of ongoing opposition to and revulsion for homosexuality thatremain prominent in American society. In M. New York:Chelsea House. The new gay struggle. The case currently challenging the Texas law which may wipe it offthe books involves two gay men, John Lawrence and Tyrone Garner. The case, which became a struggle between individual civil rights andthe right of the state to regulate sexual behavior, made it through thecourt system, eventually landing in the Supreme Court. (1998, October 26). Instead, opponents to homosexuality are looking for other, subtlerways to advance their point of view. Homosexuality, which has a long history of social disapproval, has slowlybeen gaining acceptance, but it remains a difficult issue, and thisdifficulty is reflected in the ways in which government, at the local,state, and federal levels, has tried to regulate it. Ed Vitagliano(1999) summarizes this perspective: "The battle in this country betweenthose holding to traditional morality and those espousing hedonism hasreached a fever pitch, manifested in no clearer terms than the ideologicalconflict over homosexuality" (p. Initial efforts to establish a gay rights movement had to face publicdisapproval and a culture in which homoeroticism was considered to bedeeply immoral. Legislatorsare also at odds regarding efforts to include homosexual bias in the listof hate crimes violations. Such laws illustrate theconflict between the individual's right to privacy and the desire ofgovernment to set standards of public behavior. D. He argues, "Lots ofprivate, consensual behavior is illegal, such as adult incest,prostitution, or drug use. The Texas law was passed in 1878. Some have begun to be foundunconstitutional at the state level, using the separate standards of stateconstitutions, rather than the federal document, as the measure of civilrights and individual freedoms. Citizen, pp. Vitagliano, E. The most entrenched opposition continues tocome at a local level and from individuals and small groups concerned withpreserving "family values." When state courts rule against legalrestrictions of consensual private acts that are still opposed bysignificant portions of the population, local ordinances have less of achance of being able to fill the gap. TheAdvocate, a gay rights newsletter, contends (1999), "Sodomy laws in Texasand Arkansas are believed to stand a good chance of crumbling under currentlegal challenges making their way through the state courts" (Dahir, p. 1-3. Hardwick had been arrested and fined $5 forpublic drinking (although he had simply left the bar where he worked,carrying a beer bottle, which he then disposed of). For those who believe, as do 51 percent of Americans (Lacayo,1998, October 26, p. Texas remains one ofthe last states to maintain a law against sodomy that is aimed particularlyat limiting and punishing homosexual behavior. The arresting officerhad personally processed a warrant against Hardwick, and, when the officercame to Hardwick's home to serve the warrant, walked into the unlocked homeand found Hardwick having oral sex with another man. For many in boththese groups, the government can and should help to maintain a heterosexualsociety by regulating acts, even those done in private, that go againstwhat mainstream society considers "normal." As Robson (1997) observes: The law influences the everyday lives of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered people in a practical way...The law also has tremendous influence over social attitudes, influencing lives in a more symbolic and indirect way. These statistics show, asRichard Lacayo (1998, October 26) writes, "An irresistible force ofcultural change is meeting an immovable object of political resistance" (p.34). This ideological conflict rests on ongoing disagreements about theroot causes of homosexuality and the embrace or rejection of the homosexuallifestyle. (1997). The rise of the gay and lesbian movement.Boston: Twayne. 144-15 . It classifies homosexual sodomy as"deviant sexual intercourse" and carries a fine of up to $5 . 3). Homosexuality continues to be a controversial issue in Americansociety. 146). A recent Time/CNN poll (Lacayo, 1998, October 26) shows that 64percent of Americans now believe that homosexual behavior is acceptable;twenty years earlier, only 41 percent believed this. The judges wrote, "There can be no doubt thatthe right of consenting adults to engage in private noncommercial sexualactivity, free from governmental interference, is protected by the privacyclause of the Georgia Constitution" (Dahir, 1999, p. Hardwick was arrestedand charged under Georgia's sex statute. The case of Bowersv. Hardwick was decided in 1986, ruling against Hardwick by a vote of fiveto four. Lacayo, R. Withoutquestion, what happened in Georgia is going to impact what's going on...everywhere else" (pp. Of these, five ban only sodomy between members of the same sex.These laws have continued to be overturned as specific cases havechallenged their constitutionality, since they seek to limit behaviorbetween consenting adults which is conducted in private. 19). Attempts to add a clause to theEmployment Non-Discrimination Act that would prohibit discrimination on thebasis of sexual orientation continue to face narrow defeat. (1987). 2). As more and more individuals "come out," declaring theirhomosexuality and becoming a visible force in society, members of thecommunity will be increasingly forced to at least think about the issue ofgay rights and the individual impact of laws that seek to restrict behaviornot thought to be mainstream enough. Cushman, C. (1999). 11).Rawls (Dahir, 1999) agrees, arguing that there is "no chance of real gaycivil rights at a federal level until we get rid of every last sodomy law"(p. This paper is a discussion of the changing attitudes towardhomosexual rights in America, with particular emphasis on sodomy laws,especially those in Texas. Laws designed to legislate sexual behavior havetended to reflect the prevailing social opinions regarding those behaviors. 36). 36) that homosexuality is caused at least partially byenvironment, rather than being completely innate, sexual orientation isseen as a choice that can be accepted or rejected. (1997). Changes in the law have affected opinions about the acceptability of sexual diversity, the opinions of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered people included (p. Many of the sodomy laws have been struck down only when specificcases reached the federal level. The increasing inability of government to legislate sexual behavior,and therefore to regulate homosexuality, does not mean that homosexualrights are a universal inevitability. Yet Georgia's sodomy law was ultimately thrown out in February of1999 with a ruling that stated that all consensual sex acts areconstitutionally protected. Besieged state sodomy law - Protecting childrenor privacy? 28). Behavior that is legal in onestate can still be prosecuted in others, and some laws are aimedspecifically at homosexual behavior. Time, pp. While AIDS awareness and gay rights efforts continue to raise publicsensitivity to the causes of homosexuals, a sizeable portion of the publicstill sees homosexuality as morally wrong and offensive. Thispunishment was initially restricted to men; an 1811 British court case"debated whether a sexual relationship between women was even possible -this at the same time as an increasing number of men were going to thegallows convicted of sodomy" (Adam, 1987, p. The results of other such cases in other state systems are likely toput pressure on the Texas courts to use this case to throw out the sodomylaws in Texas, as well. While being a homosexual is becoming increasingly accepted, thisacceptance may never be complete, and government reflects this ongoingconflict. Sex statutes, including laws against sodomy, continue to remainwithin the province of state governments. 2-3). The first laws attempting to express these publicattitudes opposing homosexuality were modeled on English law and werepurposefully vague, usually seeking to punish "crimes against nature."Until the 197 s, homosexuality was classified as a psychological disorderby the American Psychological Association, and the physical expression ofthe disorder was a crime in most states. Dahir, M. Robson, R. The five states that still criminalize same-sex sodomy are all in theSouth: Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. Schools should not stress acceptance ofhomosexuality. 2). Ruthann Robson (1997) notes, "Aslate as 1968, every state had a statute that punished gay or lesbian sexualexpression" (p. Yet the same pollreveals that 48 percent believe that homosexual relationships betweenconsenting adults are morally wrong (p. Just because something is private doesn't makeit moral or legal" (Cushman, 1997, p. One such possibility is as part ofthe growing debate about what can and cannot be taught in schools,especially when certain perspectives or kinds of information go against thebeliefs of parents. 145). (1999). 5). Making love legal. Williams (Ed.), Homosexuality: Opposingviewpoints, pp. 32-36. Advocatesof the law include Kelly Shackelford, a religious freedoms lawyer who isexecutive director of the Free Market Foundation. Dahir (1999) quotes gay civil rights attorney JohnRawls: "Every state peeks to see what the others are doing. San Diego: Greenhaven.----------------------- 1 1). By 1997, only 18 states still hadlaws making sodomy a criminal act; by 1999, this had been reduced to 11states. Ironically, thedeciding case was not one involving homosexual sex: "Instead, it involveda married man who had been convicted of performing oral sex on his 17-year-old niece while his pregnant wife slept in the next room" (Dahir, 1999, p.3). Vitagliano (1999) cautions, "The moral values of someparents have been effectively undermined by an authority figure at school,and homosexual advocates have won the initial skirmish in the war for thehearts and minds of a future generation" (p. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.