Sodomy for my birthday
2003-06-27 18:59:05.555114+00 by Dan Lyke 4 comments
Yesterday was my 35th birthday. Apologies if I was short with anyone who called with greetings yesterday; on Wednesday we were exchanging a lot of important stuff on the cell phone so I was in the habit of answering it, in the course of the last 40 or so minutes of finishing up with the large fashion company of which you have certainly heard I think I got calls from almost everyone who has my cell phone number, most of whom knew I was busy, and the most important parts of those calls while I was trying to juggle meetings, people and data flow were, yes, the birthday greetings. I'll give you my update on the situation as soon as I've finished figuring out what the hell the situation is, damn it!
Charlene got me one of those "on your birthday" books, which was going to lead to all sorts of cool links, but that all got overshadowed by what seems to me the most groundbreaking United States Supreme Court decision in quite a while: Lawrence et al v. Texas:
For this inquiry the Court deems it necessary to reconsider its Bowers holding. The Bowers Court's inital substantive statement—"The issue presented is whether the Federal Constitution confers a fundamental right upon the homosexuals to engage in sodomy ...," 478 U.S., at 190—discloses the Court's failure to appreciate the extent of teh liberty at stake. To say that the issue in Bowers was simply the right to engage in certain sexual conduct demeans the claim the individual put forward, just as it would demean a married couple were it said that marriage is just about the right to have sexual intercourse.
And:
...this Court's obligation is to define the liberty of all, not to mandate its own moral code.
I could not have asked for a more uplifting birthday present.
Daze Reader has dubbed yesterday "sodomy day", and has links to a bunch of articles exploring the scope of the ruling. Medley also has a large collection of links. Brad celebrates appropriately.
And go read Notes on a Glamour Profession (dang it, what do we have to do to get permanent links on that 'blog?) on the topic.
Runner-up for great birthday gifts from the cosmic wow: That lovable old bigot Strom Thurmond has also left the senate, and this earth.