The Supreme Court Struck Down Sodomy Laws 20 Years Ago. Some Still Remain.
It has been 20 years since the Supreme Court invalidated sodomy laws with its decision in Lawrence v. Texas, but legal codes inherited from colonial laws and used to prosecute L.G.B.T.Q.
people by banning some sexual acts remain in place across the country. Efforts to remove the laws in 12 states have taken on a new urgency after another landmark Supreme Court ruling.
Justice Clarence Thomas said in his concurring opinion last year in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — the decision that overturned the constitutional right to an abortion in Roe v.
Wade — that previous Supreme Court rulings affirming the right to privacy should be reconsidered. And though the sodomy laws were made null, there was no mandate for states to update their legal codes, leaving those dormant laws as potential restrictions if the Supreme Court revisits the ruling.
