Gays don't want to attack

Gays don't want to attack marriage, they want to join it. - Ellen Goodman of The Boston Globe.

Today is Gay Pride Day in New York City. I managed to miss the Boston pride day, and have now talked myself out of fighting the huge crowds in New York City today. So, I'm going to stay put at my home in the country and occasionally check in via the web on how things are going.

There are a few items that I'd like to publish here, for reference. They deal with the legal opinions of the Supreme Court on the 1986 decision of Bowers v. Hardwick and the recent opinion of Lawrence v. Texas. If you really want to get into the depths of the rulings, read them.

Also, there were some interesting articles from the Hartford Courant today on the recent Supreme Court rulings. One was from Associated Press columnist Anne Gearan entitled Court Looking Less Conservative - Rulings Leave Some Shaking Heads: "In blockbuster rulings on affirmative action and gay rights and in less heralded decisions this term, a Supreme Court dominated by conservative jurists looked less conservative than it has in years.

"On vitally important issues to social conservatives, they suffered serious defeats this term," said Thomas Goldstein, a Washington lawyer who specializes in the Supreme Court. "There was not a single victory to balance it out."

The other one was a commentary by William N. Eskridge Jr. and Edward Stein entitled A Victory For Gay Families.
On Thursday, in Lawrence vs. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the Texas law that allowed police to arrest gays for oral or anal sex, conduct that would be legal for heterosexuals. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy's majority opinion held that the law violates the right of privacy the court has found in the 14th Amendment. The court's decision swept away outdated criminal laws that few people support and that burden the rights of lesbians, gay men and bisexuals. But the implications of the ruling sweep more broadly, and they will have significant repercussions for family law in particular....

By overruling Hardwick, the court is contributing to the rational development of a modern family law that will, for the first time in American history, be neutral as to the sexual orientation of partners and parents.