The time has come for the government to get out of people's business when it comes to private and intimate relationships. Hopefully, the Supreme Court's understanding of that concept is what has led it to revisit a 16-year-old decision that punishes Americans for engaging in "abnormal" sex.
The nation's highest court agreed Monday to consider the 1998 case of two Texas men who were charged, jailed and fined for engaging in sexual relations. Nine states have similar laws banning consensual sodomy for everyone, and four other states, including Texas, only outlaw homosexual sodomy.
In 1986, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that consenting adults do not have a constitutional right to private homosexual sex, effectively upholding sodomy laws.
That decision was wrong. All Americans are supposed to be guaranteed constitutional freedoms - whether they are straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
During the past decade, state courts have blocked sodomy laws in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Montana and Tennessee. But sadly, ancient statutes such as Louisiana's 197-year-old law banning all oral and anal sex have been allowed to stand.
The Supreme Court is now set to address many pressing issues, including whether it is unconstitutional for states to treat homosexuals differently than heterosexuals who engage in acts of intimacy within the confines of their homes.
It is unfortunate that the singling out of one Texas couple was needed to bring this pressing issue to Washington. But it's about time this issue was resolved.
Sodomy law supporters argue the statutes are intended to preserve public morals and are not designed to target gays and lesbians. William Delmore III, an assistant Texas district attorney, told The Associated Press that sodomy has been considered criminal behavior for centuries and that it "could not conceivably have achieved the status of a fundamental right in the brief period of 16 years" since the Supreme Court last tackled the topic.
Following that logic, one would wonder if people like Delmore feel slavery should never have been outlawed. After all, it was an acceptable atrocity for centuries. In addition, perhaps women should not have been granted the right to vote, since it wasn't an acceptable role for women until only this century.
Well, times change. And, in this case, times are changing for the better.
The framers of the Constitution constructed a living document that could be used to guide America's future in a positive direction.
The government of the United States is one that was made "for the people, by the people."
The time has come. The Supreme Court should do the people of this nation a favor and keep Uncle Sam out of his citizens' private lives.
