Bowers Vs. Hardwick (1986)

This article is about how the United States Supreme Court ruled that anti-sodomy laws were constitutional. When a gay man named Hardwick was arrested for having sex with another man, he was arrested in 1982. Hardwick believed he was right and fought against the law saying that the antisodomy laws "violated his rights and forced him to live in imminent danger of arrest". i agree with what Hardwick stated, it is part of his First Amendment rights to do what ever he wants in private. the First Amendment means "that a State has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his house, what books he may read or what films he may watch..." so if the law can't tell someone which books to read then why can it tell you who you can have sexual relations with? the article states that there are twenty four states and the District of Columbia still continue to punish for sodomy performed in private between adults. And the defence for the reason to keep the antisodomy law the only reason that they could come up with was that the liberties were "deeply rooted in this nations history and tradition". i think that this is a lie, on the governments part because many things have been a "deeply rooted tradition" in this country but those laws were ended. a great example of something that was a deeply rooted tradition in the United States was Slavery. slavery was a huge deal and went on for many generations and slavery was claimed illegal so why couldn't we do the same earlier for the antisodomy laws?

"Bowers v. Hardwick (1986)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 8 Feb. 2010. .