5.3: Inequality Based on Sexual Orientation
- Page ID
- 14525
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Learning Objectives
- Understand the behavioral, psychological, and health effects of bullying and other mistreatment of the LGBT community.
- Evaluate the arguments for and against same-sex marriage.
- Provide three examples of heterosexual privilege.
Until just a decade ago, individuals who engaged in consensual same-sex relations could be arrested in many states for violating so-called sodomy laws. The US Supreme Court, which had upheld such laws in 1986, finally outlawed them in 2003 in Lawrence v. Texas, 539 US 558, by a 6–3 vote. The majority opinion of the court declared that individuals have a constitutional right under the Fourteenth Amendment to engage in consensual, private sexual activity.