[Clipping: LGRL Reports - the Winter 1999 Newsletter of the Lesbian Gay Rights Lobby of Texas] Part: 1 of 10
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removing
Texas’
ANTIQUA TED
SODOMY
LAW
MARCH ON AUSTIN - MARCH
“MARCH FOR OUR FAMILIES”
The Lesbian Gay Rights Lobby of Texas is urging Texans
to assemble on Sunday, March 21, 1999 for the "March
on Austin - March for Our Families/' March with LGRL in
opposition to two bills that would prohibit gays and lesbi-
ans from adopting or providing foster care.
On December 9, 1998, State Representative Warren
Chisum from Pampa, Texas filed HB 382 that would pre-
vent gays and lesbians from adopting or providing foster
care. Less than a week later State Representative Rob-
ert Talton from Harris County filed House Bill 415, that
will prohibit gays, lesbians and bisexuals from serving as
foster parents under any circumstance in the State of
Texas
( Help stop the ban on gay
| adoptions and foster care
Both bills call for "investigations" by the state to deter-
mine whether potential parents are homosexual or bi-
sexual before placement of a child. If the potential
parent is determined to oe homosexual or bisexual or
likelv to engage in homosexual conduct, they would not
oe allowed to serve as foster Darents or aaoDtive oaren^
On September 17, two men were arrested in their home
in Houston and charged with violating Texas' anti-gay
sodomy law. Immediately, State Representative Debra
Danburg from Houston filed House Bill 337, repealing
section 21.06, Texas Penal Code prohibiting homosexual
conduct. This bill would strike down Texas' 119- year-
old sodomy statute which currently makes private oral
and anal sex between consenting adults of the same
gender a class C Misdemeanor.
One of the most important reasons that Rep. Danburg
is attempting to remove the sodomy law is due to fact
that the right wing continues to use it to justify dis-
crimination against gays. Although the Texas Sodomy
Law was declared unconstitutitional by the Third Court
of Appeals in England vs. City of Dallas in 1993, the
Texas Supreme Court side-stepped a final ruling in 1993.
The right wing continues to
use Texas' unconstitutional
Sodomy Law to justify dis-
\ crimination against gays.
While Rep. Danburg works to overturn the statute ir
the Texas Legislature, attorney's Mitchell Katine anc
David Jones of Williams, Blumberg & Anderson, L.L.F
along with Lambda Legal Defense Fund, are_aener-
ousiv representing tne defendants in court. iexc^
one of only five states that criminallv targets same-se
couDies for private consensual benavicr.
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[Clipping: LGRL Reports - the Winter 1999 Newsletter of the Lesbian Gay Rights Lobby of Texas], clipping, Date Unknown; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1484055/m1/1/: accessed July 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.