Reply #8: At first I thought of Lawrence v Texas but... [View All]

[bluedawg12]

That decision seemed to hinge on this phrase: >>"Holding that "the Texas statute furthers no legitimate state interest which can justify its intrusion into the personal and private life of the individual,"<<

This judge has not yet said how there is a legitimate State interest, the implication being that the State's interest is the good of the child and an overnight stay by the partner is somehow damaging to the child.

Which is why the ACLU rebuttal speaks of the, " appeal also claims there has been no assessment of whether Ms Chandler's relationship with her partner could harm her children in any way."

That is the question about State's interest that was not present in Lawrence that they will probably fight in this case.

It's also a warning shot across the bow to our community, echoing a recent CWA spokesbigotpundit who promised that gay parental rights are next on their agenda - same sex marriage already being damaged by them, they are spreading further their "love for us."

"The majority decision found that "the intimate, adult consensual conduct at issue here was part of the liberty protected by the substantive component of the Fourteenth Amendment's due process protections." Holding that "the Texas statute furthers no legitimate state interest which can justify its intrusion into the personal and private life of the individual," the court struck down the anti-sodomy law as unconstitutional. Kennedy's opinion crucially grounded the right of consenting adults to have sex on how intimate and personal the conduct was to those involved, not on the conduct being traditionally protected by society (as in Bowers), procreative (as in Eisenstadt and Roe), or conducted by married people (as in Griswold). This opened the door in theory to protection of a whole host of sexual activity between consenting adults not protected by other decisions. Kennedy was careful however not to extend the opinion to include governmental recognition of such relationships."
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_v._Texas