SCOTUS strikes down sodomy laws nationwide in Lawrence v. Texas

The Supreme Court rules 6-3 in Lawrence v. Texas that state sodomy laws violate the Fourteenth Amendment. Justice Anthony Kennedy writes that intimate consensual sexual conduct is protected liberty and moral disapproval of homosexuality does not justify criminalization. The decision overturns Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) and invalidates sodomy statutes in 13 states that still prohibited same-sex conduct. Kennedy states: The petitioners are entitled to respect for their private lives. The State cannot demean their existence by making their private sexual conduct a crime.