We Won " “sexual behavior among adults: By a nar- ; ;, rower 5-4 vote, the Court overturned its V f- infamous 1986 Bowers v. Hardwick rul- ing, which had declared “facetious” any Bv EUAN BEAR “Today [June 26, 2003] the U.S. Supreme Court closed the door on an- j . era of intolerance and ushered in a new era of respect and equal treat- ment for gay Americans; This historic civil rights victory recognizes that love, sexuality and family play the same mle in gay people’s lives as they do for everyone else.” = ' S; -vacy. 4 claim by homosexuals. to a right, of pri- and overturned the Bowers decision —mon .' the grounds tliatiit in'l:ring"ed'cri’the peti-._‘ . -tioners’ Fourteenth Amendment f‘liberty"~. . ‘ rights under th_e,DueP_rocess' clause. , — Ruth Harlow, Legal Director at Lambda Legal Defense & Education 1 Fuhd, lead counsel in Lawrence v. Texas “Government has just lost its weapon of mass destruction. It can no longer ;, use the existence of sodomy laws to justify discrimination. As of today, all , sodomy laws are unconstitutional.” — Chai Feldblum, a law professor at Georgetown University, co-author of an amicus brief in the Lawrence case. n June 26, the United States Supreme Court by a 6-3 vote declared unconstitutional state‘ ' ‘laws criminalizing private consensual ,lmmediate"r;eacti_o,n mhe ' Supreme Court’s landmark riding in ' q " Vermont was muted: as residents of the " only state currently giving full legal . recognition to sarne-sexrelationships, ’- Vem1ont’s gay men and lesbians experi- ence less of an impactfon their daily . lives. Vermont repealed its sodomy law‘ V in 1977. . R.U. 1.2?, Community Center K Uirector Christopher Kaufman said that although an open invitation was extend-. ed to the glbtqcommunity to celebrate at the Center’s waterfront headquarters, " few people came. “People seemed to feel , that they didn’t need to come down ' because we won.” ' He continued, “It is very exciting, -very surprising to have this leap ‘ _:v The majority decision, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, declared, * ‘ = ‘the Texas sodomy ‘law.'uncons't'itutioiial 4' forward by a conservative court. It’s a very libertarian decision, based on the right to liberty rather than equal protec- tion.” Kaufman echoed national speakers’ concerns over a conservative bacldash. “We’ve got a long way to go, we can’t be complacent. There’s an awful lot to be done in workplace dis- crimination, for example. R.U. 1 .2? will be'workin‘g on H.366, the bill to‘ make illegal any discrimination on the basis of gender identity and presentation. There’s a lot more to be done at the community level.’’ > And as the NGLTF noted, he said, “this decision is really the result of 20 years of grassroots organizing.” Vermonters for Civil Unions attorney Betti Robinson was more impressed with the potential positive impact of the Supreme Court’s decision. “Lawrence v. Texas is huge! It’s huge, not just in tenns of results, but in what the Court said and how they said it. They , basically acknowledged the humanity of gays and lesbians and the importance of our dignity as people. And they made the connection between gay sexual relation- ships and love.” Robinson likewise cautioned the community to prepare for backlash. ' Activists Prepare For Backlash and New Battles After I Lawrence vs. Texas Rating A “These kinds of victories are definitely a good thing, but there is no question in my mind that these events are going‘ to be used to mobilize the right wing. It’s tempting to celebrate and think that the battles are over, but it’s similar to Brown ‘ v. Board of Education [declaring ‘sepa- rate but equal’ schools by race unconsti- tutional], where the heavy lifting came after the decision; the litigation, social change and political wor " V’ At the same time, Robinson added, “Even though we’re looking at a lot- of work [to consolidate these gains], I'd rather be in this position of looking - at a lot of work because we won.” She‘ characterized Jus_tice Antonin~.Scaliafs dissent as “a call to armsifor the conser- vatives.” ' “The court could have written a narrow decision on the basis of priva- cy,” she concluded, “but instead, the Court apologized for Bowers. I wept when I read the decision.” Keith Goslant, official liaison from the lgbtq communities to the Govemor’s office, said he was “encour- aged” that America is finally recognizing gays and lesbians with full citizenship rights. “I was incredibly pleased to see that the Supreme Court justices got it, and that Justice Kennedy used such, ] strong language in afiirming our dignity and humanity. It was incredible to hear.” Both _Goslant and Robinson commented on the similarity of language in the Lawrence decision to that used by Vermont Supreme Court Chief Justice Jeffrey Amestoy in Baker v. State. ‘i'"_;; Rep. Bill Lippert (D- Hinesburg), executive director of the , Samara Foundation (Vermont’s glbtq xgranjt-mal