John Lawrence and Tyrone Garner Arrested in Houston

Police in Houston Texas arrest John Lawrence and Tyrone Garner on charges of having sex in violation of the state’s Homosexual Conduct law. The case eventually led in 2003 to a Supreme Court decision, Lawrence v.Texas, that declared all state sodomy laws unconstitutional. For the first time in U.S. history, there were no longer laws criminalizing consensual sex in private between two adults of the same sex.

1998-09-17