Issues@Hand
AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs
March 2003 – They say everything is bigger in Texas, and now a case that began in Houston has moved to the U.S. Supreme Court, and may very well be the biggest legal decision in history on “gay” rights.
“This will be a watershed case in the history of the battle between those who hold to traditional views of human sexuality, marriage and family, and those who support the radical homosexual agenda,” said Stephen M. Crampton, chief counsel for the AFA Center for Law & Policy (CLP).
The case arises from the 1998 arrest of two homosexual men, Tyrone Garner, 31, and John Geddes Lawrence, 55. Police were summoned to Lawrence’s apartment by a phone call claiming – falsely, it was later revealed, by a friend of the two men – that there was an intruder in the apartment with a gun. When police entered the apartment, Garner and Lawrence were found in the back bedroom committing sodomy.
According to The Houston Chronicle the men spent a night in jail, pleaded no contest to the charges and paid a $200 fine.
The Texas law under which Garner and Lawrence were charged makes homosexual sodomy a crime, punishable by a fine of up to $500, although such heterosexual acts are not criminalized. It is that distinction which has formed the basis of the two men’s legal challenge.
“This was a private consensual act,” said David Jones, who is representing Garner and Lawrence. “It was not, in our view, harmful either to the participants or to public health and it’s also discriminatory in that heterosexual conduct is not prosecuted.”
“Both sides are preparing for this as if it were the Super Bowl,” Crampton said. “The pro-homosexual side, especially, sees this as a case which can open the door for the entire ‘gay’ agenda.”
Dozens of groups and individuals on both sides of the issue are filing briefs or lending their names to legal briefs.
Crampton said the outcome has dire implications beyond the immediate facts of the case. “More significant than the case’s impact on sodomy laws is the impact for the future with respect to marriage,” he said. “They are arguing that it is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to differentiate between sexual orientations. If the Supreme Court agrees with that reasoning – that sexual orientation is just a matter of preference, like choosing between vanilla and chocolate – then the rationale for protecting marriage among heterosexuals is gone.”
Ironically, it is precisely the disappearance of traditional marriage which will be a focus of the CLP’s brief to the Supreme Court. “We hope that will give pause to some of the members of the high court, who may actually be leaning towards striking down the Texas statute,” Crampton said, “but who will shrink back from taking that step if they believe they will simultaneously be undermining the institution of marriage.”
The CLP will be filing a brief in support of the Texas law, and the case will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on March 26. Crampton was quick to ask Christians to be praying. “I’m telling you – we need prayer. This case is big, and the repercussions from the Supreme Court’s decision will be felt for generations to come.”
Religious groups favor “gay” agenda
A number of religious entities have signed onto legal briefs which call for striking down the sodomy statute in Texas. They include: Alliance of Baptists; The Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism; The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, III, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church; The Methodist Federation for Social Action; More Light Presbyterians; United Methodists for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Concerns; Brethren, Mennonite Council for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Interests; Fellowship of Reconciling Pentecostals International; Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America; The Interfaith Alliance; Lutherans Concerned; North America Northaven United Methodist Church; Seventh-day Adventist Kinship, International, Inc.; The Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches; The World Congress of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Jews. 
