Gay Activists Seek Sodomy Law Repeal

About 30 gay rights activists, some chanting “get the courts out of our bedroom,” demonstrated in front of the Supreme Court Thursday to mark the second anniversary of the high court’s decision to uphold a Georgia sodomy law.

Urvashi Vaid of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said the protesters want a reversal of the Bowers vs. Hardwick decision by what she called the “bigoted, racist, sexist, homophobic Supreme Court.”

The protesters also called for the repeal of other sodomy laws in 25 states and the District of Columbia.

The high court, in refusing to extend the right to privacy to homosexual activity, upheld Georgia’s anti-sodomy law by a 5-4 vote on June 30, 1986, in a case begun by Michael Hardwick.

Hardwick was arrested by Atlanta police for violating the law, an offense that can be punished by 20 years in prison. He was never prosecuted for the offense.

Linda Royster of Oppression Under Action, a Washington-based gay rights group, called the Hardwick decision a “denial of our right to privacy, which not only criminalizes our choice of sexual partners and practices, but also threatens others’ right to reproductive freedom.”

There were no arrests at Thursday’s demonstration, which remained outside of Supreme Court property.