By: Jennifer Naeger
Lawrence v. Texas has affected the traditional ideas
regarding homosexuals and their fundamental constitutional
rights. This decision will have a profound impact in family
courts. This article argues that judges can no longer be
unconditionally unsympathetic to gay and lesbian parents or accept
without question historical prejudices and unjustifiable theories
about what happens to children who grow up in homosexual
households. This article further asserts that
Lawrence should guarantee an impartial balancing of
factors under the “best interests of the child” standard.
This article further recognizes that the repeal of sodomy laws,
though unlikely to have an instantaneous effect on certain realms
of government-sanctioned discrimination such as the military’s
anti-gay policy, will likely put homosexual litigants in a stronger
position in court. The article is hopeful that the
Lawrence decision will gradually erode the reasoning
behind other prejudicial policies, and they too will be declared
unconstitutional.
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