PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Supreme Court "Victory"
by david Thursday, Jun. 26, 2003 at 12:00 PM
dmeieran@123mail.org

Supreme Court vote 6-3 against Texas Sodomy law -- but we still need to gather at Santorum's today for a brief demo (done by 6p). The struggle for liberation continues...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 26,
2003

CONTACT: David Meieran 412-421-7716, 412-361-3022
dmeieran@123mail.org Timmy Vining 412-361-3022

PITTSBURGHERS REACT TO SUPREME COURT SODOMY RULING : GATHER
AT SENATOR SANTORUM'S OFFICE

WHAT: Demonstration in response to historic U.S. Supreme
Court ruling on sodomy law.

WHEN: 5:00pm, June 26, 2003.

WHERE: Sentator Santorum's office at 1 Station Square.
As of this morning, 36 other cities are holding similar
demonstrations around the Supreme Court case.

WHO: The event is being called by RESYST (a project of
the Thomas Merton Center) and the Rosenberg Institute for
Peace and Justice.

WHY: Today the Supreme Court decided 6-3 that lesbians,
gays, bisexuals, and transexuals (LGBT) are not second class
citizens in this country. The court struck down Texas's
"Homosexual Conduct� law, which criminalizes oral and anal
sex by consenting same-sex partners. The law "demeans the
lives of homosexual persons," Justice Anthony M. Kennedy
wrote for the majority.

In 1986, the Supreme Court previously denied same-sex
partners these basic human rights in the Bowers v. Hardwick
case, which resulted in nationwide protests and civil
disobedience with over 600 people arrested, shutting down
the Supreme Court for the first time in U.S. history. Ever
since that case, courts and legislators have used the excuse
of the Hardwick decision to take children away from same-sex
couples, to deny equal access to jobs, housing, public
accommodations and more.

"This historic decision is victory for LGBT people," said
David Meieran, one of the protest's organizers, "but we
cannot allow ourselves to become complacent. Supreme Court
decisions are not a substitute for liberation. Just as the
landmark Brown v. Board of Education case was ineffectual
without the force of the Civil Rights Movement, today's
decision will be a hollow victory unless we actively fight
against intolerance."

Recall that earlier this year PA Sentator Santorum defended
the Texas sodomy law and argued that homosexual consensual
sex "undermine[s] the fabric of our society." Today we
gather at Santorum's office because he is emblematic of
those who would use their private morality to defend sodomy
laws and institutionalized discrimination.

Texas is one of 13 remaining states that still have sodomy
laws on the books; in the past 30 years, many states' sodomy
laws were either repealed by state legislation or else
invalidated by state courts. Pennsylvania's sodomy law was
struck down by the PA State Supreme Court in Commonwealth v.
Bonadio, 415 A.2d 47 (1980). By striking down the Texas law
on privacy grounds, the court has also provided an important
buttress to reproductive rights, which are increasingly
under threat by the fundamentalist right.


Info about RESYST:
http://www.thomasmertoncenter.org/resyst/
Info on the court case (Lambda Legal):
http://www.lambdalegal.org/
Info on similar events nationwide: http://www.cabn.org/DefendOurRights/

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