Bowers v. Hardwick

Like the statute that is challenged in this case,1 the rationale of the Court’s opinion applies equally to the prohibited conduct regardless of whether the parties who engage in it are married or unmarried, or are of the same or different sexes.2 Sodomy was condemned as an odious and sinful type of behavior during the formative period of the common law.3 *215That condemnation was equally damning for heterosexual and homosexual sodomy.4 Moreover, it provided no special exemption for married couples.5 The license to cohabit and to produce legitimate offspring simply did not include any permission…