I feel obligated to note this.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, one of the most socially conservative Texans serving in Congress, told The Dallas Morning News that Texas should repeal its now-dormant law that bans gay sex.
“Consenting adults should be able to do what they wish in their private sexual activity, and government has no business in their bedrooms,” Cruz’s spokesperson told the newspaper.
The Texas Legislature passed the law decades ago. It hasn’t been enforceable since 2003, when the U.S. Supreme Court decided in a landmark ruling that it violated the Constitution. There have been regular attempts by Democrats to repeal the law since, but they have repeatedly failed in the Legislature.
But questions over the future of that precedent have surfaced after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. Both the 1973 abortion case and the gay sex case, known as Lawrence v. Texas, were decided based on the idea of a constitutional right to privacy.
The court’s overturning of Roe caused some to wonder whether other cases based on that privacy right would be next — and conservative Justice Clarence Thomas had suggested that the court reconsider the Lawrence precedent.
The court’s landmark ruling legalizing gay marriage was decided under similar reasoning. In recent weeks, Cruz has reiterated his opposition to that decision. He also frequently brought up his opposition to that ruling while campaigning for president that year in socially conservative states like Iowa and South Carolina.
Recently on his podcast, Cruz reiterated his belief that the decision was “clearly wrong” on the grounds that states, not the enacting of a federal standard, should govern gay marriage policy.
Even so, he said he didn’t think the court would overturn that ruling.
Whether SCOTUS would go along with Clarence Thomas’ fondest wish or not is unknown, but they will likely have ample opportunity in the near future to hear cases that have been brought by the same people that pushed to overturn Roe and are now pushing to overturn Windsor and Obergefell. I see no reason at all to trust in their intentions. But taking that into account and remembering that this is still Ted Cruz talking, I appreciate what he has said here. And given that he has said it, I see no reason why the Texas Legislature can’t do it. If even Ted Cruz thinks this is the right thing to do, what argument does some random Republican State Rep have?