Those awaiting Supreme Court decisions on two same-sex marriage cases may have a hard time imagining that just a decade ago, that same court struck down sodomy laws in the United States.
But the decision on the overturning of the federal Defense of Marriage Act and Californian's Prop. 8, banning same-sex marriage, could come exactly 10 years after the 2003 striking down of sodomy laws.
Lambda Legal has announced that the team that won the Lawrence v. Texas case will explore that trajectory from 2003 to present in a special blog series.
The series, "From Sex to Marriage: How We Got from Lawrence v. Texas to the Cases Challenging DOMA and Prop 8," will run through the spring leading up to the Supreme Court decisions, expected in June. It brings together the legal experts and educators who successfully built support for LGBT people both in the court and on the ground in Texas.
According to experts who worked on the 2003 lawsuit, Lawrence has been foundational to nearly every major gay rights legal battle since.
"I think it's difficult to overstate the importance of the Lawrence case to the LGBT movement's advances over the last 10 years," said Jon Davidson, legal director at Lambda Legal, in a press call with reporters. "It's been, I think, a central pillar to the foundation on which all of our progress has been built"
More information on the blog series is available at www.lambdalegal.org/blog/from-sex-to-marriage-teleconference.