By Allie Martin and Jody Brown
February 20, 2003

(AgapePress) - A Christian attorney says the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this year on a case from Texas that could have broad ramifications for the family. He says it could re-define marriage across the nation.

The highest court in the nation is reviewing Texas' sodomy law, which criminalizes homosexual sex. The case arises from the 1998 arrest of two homosexual men arrested by police for committing sodomy. Law enforcement had been summoned to the apartment of one of the men by what was later discovered to be a false claim that there was an armed intruder in the apartment.

Steve Crampton is chief counsel for the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy (CLP), which will be filing a legal brief in support of the Texas law. Crampton says there is a lot at stake.

"The ramifications to a determination by the Supreme Court that that law is unconstitutional may reach so far as to jeopardize the laws all over the nation that protect marriage as being between one man and one woman," Crampton explains. "So the stakes probably could not be higher."

In an interview with AFA Journal, Crampton said Lawrence v. Texas may very well be the biggest legal decision in history on homosexual rights.

"This will be a watershed case in the history of the battle between those who hold to traditional views of human sexuality, marriage, and family, and those who support the radical homosexual agenda," he told AFA Journal. "I'm telling you -- we need prayer. This case is big, and the repercussions from the Supreme Court's decision will be felt for generations to come."

According to Crampton, the homosexual lobby has wanted to get the case before the Supreme Court for a long time.

"The homosexuals have long sought to have the U.S. Supreme Court declare that homosexual sodomy is either a protected right or, at a minimum, is not immoral," he says. "Both of those issues are front and center with this case."

The list of groups urging the court to overturn the law reads like a litany of liberal and pro-homosexual groups. It includes organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Organization for Women, Lambda Legal, the Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, the American Psychological Association, and the National Association of Social Workers.

Surprisingly -- or perhaps not -- several religious groups have also signed onto legal briefs calling for the sodomy statute in Texas to be struck down. Those groups include the Alliance of Baptists, the Methodist Federation for Social Action, More Light Presbyterians, the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, and the World Congress of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Jews.

The list of groups filing briefs along with the CLP in support of the Texas sodomy law includes several high-profile pro-family groups: Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, the American Center for Law & Justice, the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, and Citizens for Community Values.

Also included among that list are the Florida Family Association, Texas Eagle Forum, the Texas Physicians Resource Council, the Catholic Medical Association, and a host of Texas legislators lead by Republican Representative Warren Chisum of Pampa.

"Both sides are preparing for this as if it were the Super Bowl," Crampton said in the Journal interview. "The pro-homosexual side, especially, sees this as a case which can open the door for the entire 'gay' agenda."

Arguments before the Supreme Court are scheduled for March 26.

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