Equality Texas has issued a “Good Bill Action Alert” urging everyone who can to drop a card today in support of HB 1738 which would update Texas law to reflect the 2003 Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas which overturned this state’s sodomy law and similar laws across the country.
A hearing on HB 1738 began at 10:30 a.m. today (Tuesday, April 8) before the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee.
“To be clear, private intimate acts between consenting queer people is legal in Texas. This law [HB 1738] updates the Texas Code to put the nail in the coffin on a dark moment in Texas history,” the action alert notes.
Although the U.S. Supreme Court declared sodomy laws targeting same-sex intimacy between consenting adults to be unconstitutional some 22 years ago, Section 21.06 — which bans consensual sex between adults of the same gender — remains “on the books” in this state. If the court were to reverse its ruling in Lawrence v. Texas — something that the right-wingers, including SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas, have called for — the Texas sodomy law would, once again, take effect.
To “drop a card” at the Texas Capitol simply means to officially register your position on a bill being heard by a committee. To do so, you must be on Capitol grounds and use either a touch-screen kiosk or a laptop/tablet connected to the free public Capitol WiFi.
— Tammye Nash