The right to choose adult sexual behavior
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual
Was Lawrence vs. Texas merely judicial sanity? The familiar case is made once again that the family values crap rejects gay men's capacity for sexual fidelity. All but born monogamous I don't much care: I just want Charles to be able to claim my property and to visit him when he's ill.
Thus, Scalia's polemics notwithstanding, the Lawrence decision did not illegitimately take a side in the "culture wars." Rather, it faced up to the fact that the old premises and justifications for morals legislation in this country are no longer sustainable. It may be that the decision, like all law, unavoidably favors some groups against others. But this does not amount to unjustifiable partiality in the way Scalia implies. The Court did make a choice on the level of justification: it chose to argue in terms of post-conventional morality rather than impose a traditionalist religious worldview. In other words, it came down on the side of justice against injustice. There is nothing illegitimate about that sort of partiality.
Jean L. Cohen, Dissent: Privacy without the Closet Lawrence vs. Texas Via Rebel Prince.