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CNN, 2003-06-27
Further implications of the major U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down laws against private sexual
behaviour. Christian fundamentalists are not happy.
WASHINGTON (AP) --The Supreme Court's ruling striking down bans on gay sex also strengthens the constitutional underpinnings
for legal abortion and other socially divisive issues, some legal experts say. The court said Thursday that what gay men and
women do in the privacy of their bedrooms is their business and not the government's, a historic civil rights ruling that will
likely be used to challenge other bans involving private conduct.
The decision in many respects deals with the same issues as the court's 30-year-old Roe v. Wade ruling that provided for
legal abortions. Emory University law professor David Garrow said the ruling "strengthens and enshrines" the
court's thinking in the abortion case.
CNN, 2003-06-27
A major legal decision, striking down antiquated American laws which restrict sexual and other private behaviour.
WASHINGTON (CNN) --The Supreme Court Thursday struck down a Texas state law banning private consensual sex between adults of
the same sex in a decision gay rights groups hailed as historic. The 6-3 decision by the court reverses course from a ruling
17 years ago that states could punish homosexuals for what such laws historically called deviant sex.
Legal analysts said the ruling enshrines for the first time a broad constitutional right to sexual privacy, and its impact
would reach beyond Texas and 12 other states with similar sodomy laws applied against the gay and lesbian community, and
into mainstream America.
...
As recently as 1960, every state had an anti-sodomy law, according to The Associated Press. In 37 states, the statutes have
been repealed by lawmakers or blocked by state courts, the AP reported.
Of the 13 states with sodomy laws, four -- Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri -- prohibit oral and anal sex between same-sex
couples. The other nine ban consensual sodomy for everyone: Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Utah and Virginia.
...
Laws that might be most vulnerable would be ones that govern fornication and adultery, said Diana Hassel, associate professor
of law at Roger Williams University. And while Hassel said "only a handful" of states remain still have such laws,
Thursday's Supreme Court ruling establishes a benchmark in privacy that had not existed. Hassel said the ruling, based on due
process arguments rather than equal protection laws, would push out new areas in privacy. "This is going to carve out
protection for private sexual behavior," Hassel said. "As long as it's between consenting adults, this ruling
would appear to cover it."
...
Religious conservatives quickly criticized the decision...
Thursday's ruling stemmed from the 1998 arrest of two Houston men..."This is giant leap forward to a day where we are no longer branded as criminals and where that is no longer accepted by the
most powerful court in the country," said Ruth Harlow, of the Lambda Legal Defense Fund, who represented the two men.
...
Robert Knight, a spokesman for the conservative Culture and Family Institute, said Thursday's ruling would have "very
real consequences." Knight warned that it would undermine the legal foundation of marriage, lead to more deaths among
gay men from sexually transmitted diseases and lead to schoolchildren being taught "that homosexual sodomy is the same
as marital sex."... And the Rev. Rob Schenck, co-founder of the National Clergy Council, called it "a
lamentable outcome."
The case is Lawrence and Garner v. Texas, case no. 02-0102.
Webmaster's comment:
The United States finally enters the twentieth century. Better late than never. However the fundamentalist Christian right,
very strong in the U.S., is complaining loudly and hopes to keep legislation in the nineteenth century, or earlier.
CBC News —
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 2003-06-18
Under pressure from decisions in provincial courts, most recently in Ontario, the Canadian federal government plans legal
recognition of gay marriage, despite protests from religious groups.
Ottawa will introduce legislation to make same-sex marriages legal, while at the same time permitting churches and other religious
groups to "sanctify marriage as they see it," the prime minister said Tuesday. Jean Chrétien made the announcement
after a day-long cabinet retreat. It means Ottawa will not appeal two provincial court rulings allowing same-sex unions.
"There is an evolution in society," Chrétien said, "but what is important to me is the freedom of the
churches."
To pre-empt legal challenges by the provinces, Chrétien says the legislation will be first checked out by the Supreme Court
of Canada. The prime minister says the legislation will be drafted within weeks, and MPs will be free to vote their conscience
when the bill is introduced. Courts in British Columbia and Quebec have made rulings in favour of same-sex marriages, but gave
Ottawa time to change the law. Ontario's court ordered the definition of marriage to be changed to include gay couples.
Justice Minister Martin Cauchon says the provincial rulings highlighted conflicts between two fundamental freedoms: the right
of association and religious rights. Cauchon says the new legislation will allow the two rights to "cohabitate."
Webmaster's comment:
It is difficult to see how recognizing gay marriage could possibly infringe on anybody's religious rights. What has so upset
Christian groups is the threat to their "right" to impose their particular moral code on all of society, including
non-Christians.
On the other hand, if marriage is essentially a "divinely sanctioned" tradition—as some would
claim— then no government should recognize any marriage, whether hetero or same-sex, on the principle that religious
practice is a private affair.
Canada.com, 2003-06-16
Death of the great journalist and communicator Pierre Bourgault, a pioneer and stalwart partisan of the Quebec
independence movement. In 2001 the Mouvement laïque québécois (Quebec Secular Movement) awarded Bourgault its
Prix Condorcet in recognition of his
efforts in support of secularism and church/state separation.
See also:
The Guardian — United Kingdom, 2003-06-06
The ground was laid for an epic US supreme court battle over abortion yesterday after conservatives delivered their most
significant blow in decades to a woman's right to choose.
Hours after Congress voted 282 to 139 to outlaw a method of abortion sometimes used in the late stages of pregnancy,
pro-choice activists and the medical community were gearing up to challenge the ban in the courts.
...
Doctors performing the procedure could face fines and up to two years in jail. Although the bill makes an exception when
the woman's life is in danger, it makes no other allowances for her health. The import of the legislative victory was driven
home by an almost immediate message of congratulations from President George Bush. Mr Bush, long known for his strong
sympathies with the anti-abortion movement and other causes of the Christian right, said the law would "help build a
culture of life in America". He also urged Congress to forward him the final bill as fast as possible, so that he
could sign it into law. The US Senate approved a nearly identical bill in March. The president's support appears crucial
to the bill's fate. Earlier attempts to outlaw late terminations have foundered after being ruled unconstitutional....
...
...conservatives...are waging a multi-fronted campaign to erode support for Roe versus Wade, the test case that
established the right to abortion in 1973, before embarking on a climactic confrontation several years down the road.
...
"This is a broad, unconstitutional bill which sacrifices women's health and future fertility on the altar of extreme
rightwing ideology," said Kate Michelman, president of Naral Pro-Choice America.
Webmaster's comment:
Another religiously motivated attack on women's right to control their own bodies.
The Bush theocracy continues its ruinous course.
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