By Allie Martin and Jody Brown
March 26, 2003

(AgapePress) - The U.S. Supreme Court has heard oral arguments in a case which many believe could legalize homosexual sex in America.

Attorneys with the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy were at the Supreme Court building on Wednesday as justices reviewed the Texas law which criminalizes sodomy. The case (Lawrence v. Texas) arises from the 1998 arrest of two homosexual Houston 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. [See Earlier Story]

According to a BBC report, two Supreme Court justices asked how the State of Texas could justify allowing same-sex couples to adopt and raise a family, yet ban their sexual practices. But the same report says the state made a "strong case" that the state legislature should have the right to decide what moral standards should apply in the community.

Steve Crampton

AFA attorney Steve Crampton says states have a right to protect and enforce moral standards.

"We filed a brief with the [Supreme] Court arguing, in essence, that the protection of morality is itself a valid basis -- and sufficient, under the Constitution -- to uphold this law," Crampton says, "and that becomes a central focus of the court's analysis."

The high court has several options in deciding the case. It can rule that the Texas law is constitutional; it can rule the law unfairly discriminates against homosexuals, meaning that states can ban certain sexual activity as long as it bans it for everyone regardless of sexual orientation; or it can reverse an earlier Supreme Court decision (Bowers v. Hardwick, 1986), essentially ordering the government "out of the bedroom" in the case of consensual sex between adults.

According to Crampton, there is a good chance the justices will decriminalize homosexual sex.

"In the end, I think there's a very significant development by virtue of the position staked out by Justices [Stephen] Breyer and [David] Souter, which in effect is this: 'Mere recitation of the interests of morality by a state in defense of its criminal law is not enough. There must be more.'"

The attorney encourages Christians to pray for God to touch the hearts of the Supreme Court justices. A ruling is expected by the end of June.

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