Flashback: Rick Perry Supports Criminalizing Gay Sex | Mother Jones
So what exactly has Perry done? Well, for one, he is (still) a supporter of the Texas "homosexual conduct" statute, an archaic law that made it a crime for two consenting, unrelated adults to have sex if they were of the same gender. The law was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the landmark 2002 case Lawrence v. Texas, but, despite repeated efforts, Texas has yet to formally repeal the statute. When Perry was asked about the Lawrence case in 2002, he defended the anti-sodomy statute: "I think our law is appropriate that we have on the books." He wrote about the case in his 2011 book Fed Up, too, citing the Lawrence decision as the product of "nine oligarchs in robes" and an example of what's wrong with our judicial system. And last spring, when Perry ran for his third full term as governor, he did so on a state GOP platform that exlicitly stated "we oppose the legalization of sodomy."
That doesn't sound like "Small Government" Conservatism to me.
Sounds to me like a guy who doesn't think the courts should be doing the job of the legislatures.
If you think it's an unreasonable law, petition the Texas State Legisltature to repeal it. THat's how the system works.
Frankly, I have no problem with gays or gay marriage. I think it's probably inevitable and frankly, why should just the straights have to suffer.
But this was a great example of judicial overreach.
Keep in mind, back in 1986, the Courts found in
Hardwicke v. Georgia (No, seriously, that was the plaintiff's name!) that the states had the right to regulate sex acts, including oral and anal sex. Might not agree with the laws, but they were enacted, and it was the province of the legistlature to overturn them.
So how could these laws be constitutional in 1986 but not in 2002? Simple. The composition of the court changed, not the wording of the constitution. (1986 was also the height of the AIDS epidemic.)
Now it should be pointed out in the wake of
Hardwicke (snicker, snicker) a lot of states were amazed to find these largely unenforced laws were still on their books, and repealed them. A few kept them on, like New York, but only to use as an aggrevating circumstance in a sexual assault case.
On the point, Perry is right. States should have the right to have their own laws if they don't otherwise violate the constitution. They should not be subject to "Well, do we have more liberals or conservatives on the court this year?"