Bowers Vs. Hardwick: Case Study
Antanas Simkus
AIU Online
CRJS 400
Professor Tammi Clearfield
Unit 4 Individual Project
Bowers v. Hardwick
Short review The year is 1986. Location -Georgia. What started as a regular day for Michel Hardwick, led to unbelievable chain of events and ended with one of the most disgraceful Supreme Court’s decision. After throwing a bottle of beer to a trash can outside gay bar M. Hardwick was cited for drinking in public. But because of the police officers mistake, Michael did not show up in court, as dates were mixed up. As a result, arrest warrant was issued. And when a police officer showed up at Mr. Hardwick’s residence to serve the warrant (which at that time was already called off, since Michael …show more content…
Alcohol fueled jealousy and soon police received a phone call about a drunken man with a gun, which was not the case. When police arrived and entered Lawrence’s apartment, they found Lawrence and Garner engaged in anal sex for what they got arrested. In order to get a better understanding about importance of this case we must look political and social climates of the time. In 1973 anti-sodomy law forbade oral and anal sex between two people of the same sex, but the same activity was allowed for heterosexual couples. Same year Texas revised its criminal code and saw it fit to decriminalize adultery, seduction and bestiality. So in the year of 1973 the state of Texas public policy allowed human intercourse with an animal but did not allowed consensual sex between two adult people. Even though the Texas called “Homosexual conduct Law” many LGBT community members saw it as an attempt to criminalize not only the sexual act itself, but the very status of a gay person. It was not that homosexual sex acts were illegal, just being a gay was illegal – or that is how most law enforcement officers saw it. Police officers had never received any training or tips as to how to deal with certain situations, almost all police departments had high levels of homophobia and openly gay people would be treated anything but …show more content…
The legal victory in Lawrence v. Texas is important not only because it overturned unjust, wrong law. It showed that the law can be ugly. The case removed certain stigma associated not with homosexual conduct, but with gay community itself. Sadly, it could have happened much earlier, but traditions, old values and prejudices kept nation from moving forward.
References:
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 478 U.S. 186 Bowers v. Hardwick Retrieved from http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0478_0186_ZS.html
The Strange History of Sodomy Laws. Retrieved from http://www.alternet.org/story/99092/the_strange_history_of_sodomy_laws
Constitutional Values, Government Powers & Individual Freedoms by Hall , Feldmeier
Lawrence v. Texas; Summary. Retrieved from http://www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/cases/lawrence-v-texas
Bazelon, E. (Oct 19, 2012). Why Advancing Gay Rights is All About Good Timing. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/supreme_court_dispatches/2012/10/the_supreme_court_s_terrible_decision_in_bowers_v_hardwick_was_a_product.html
Bowers v. Hardwick. Retrieved from
AIU Online
CRJS 400
Professor Tammi Clearfield
Unit 4 Individual Project
Bowers v. Hardwick
Short review The year is 1986. Location -Georgia. What started as a regular day for Michel Hardwick, led to unbelievable chain of events and ended with one of the most disgraceful Supreme Court’s decision. After throwing a bottle of beer to a trash can outside gay bar M. Hardwick was cited for drinking in public. But because of the police officers mistake, Michael did not show up in court, as dates were mixed up. As a result, arrest warrant was issued. And when a police officer showed up at Mr. Hardwick’s residence to serve the warrant (which at that time was already called off, since Michael …show more content…
Alcohol fueled jealousy and soon police received a phone call about a drunken man with a gun, which was not the case. When police arrived and entered Lawrence’s apartment, they found Lawrence and Garner engaged in anal sex for what they got arrested. In order to get a better understanding about importance of this case we must look political and social climates of the time. In 1973 anti-sodomy law forbade oral and anal sex between two people of the same sex, but the same activity was allowed for heterosexual couples. Same year Texas revised its criminal code and saw it fit to decriminalize adultery, seduction and bestiality. So in the year of 1973 the state of Texas public policy allowed human intercourse with an animal but did not allowed consensual sex between two adult people. Even though the Texas called “Homosexual conduct Law” many LGBT community members saw it as an attempt to criminalize not only the sexual act itself, but the very status of a gay person. It was not that homosexual sex acts were illegal, just being a gay was illegal – or that is how most law enforcement officers saw it. Police officers had never received any training or tips as to how to deal with certain situations, almost all police departments had high levels of homophobia and openly gay people would be treated anything but …show more content…
The legal victory in Lawrence v. Texas is important not only because it overturned unjust, wrong law. It showed that the law can be ugly. The case removed certain stigma associated not with homosexual conduct, but with gay community itself. Sadly, it could have happened much earlier, but traditions, old values and prejudices kept nation from moving forward.
References:
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 478 U.S. 186 Bowers v. Hardwick Retrieved from http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0478_0186_ZS.html
The Strange History of Sodomy Laws. Retrieved from http://www.alternet.org/story/99092/the_strange_history_of_sodomy_laws
Constitutional Values, Government Powers & Individual Freedoms by Hall , Feldmeier
Lawrence v. Texas; Summary. Retrieved from http://www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/cases/lawrence-v-texas
Bazelon, E. (Oct 19, 2012). Why Advancing Gay Rights is All About Good Timing. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/supreme_court_dispatches/2012/10/the_supreme_court_s_terrible_decision_in_bowers_v_hardwick_was_a_product.html
Bowers v. Hardwick. Retrieved from