John Lawrence and Tyron GarnerOn September 17 1998, John Lawrence and Tyron Garner were at Lawrence's apartment along with Robert Eubanks where the two guests had planned to spend the night when they lacked transportation home. Eubanks had been drinking heavily and was angry about the alleged flirting between Lawrence and Garner, when he called the police to report "a black man going crazy with a gun" at his location. He then pointed the responding officers to the apartment where they found Lawrence and Garner having anal sex in the bedroom. Though this detail differed between the other responding officers, with one saying that they were having oral sex and another two claiming they did not see them having sex at all. The two were arrested and charged with having "deviant sex" and the two were held in jail overnight , where the next day in court they both pleaded not guilty to "homosexual conduct"
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Court CaseLambda Legal, a national organisation working to achieve equal human rights for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgenders through litigation, became involved in the case. They advised both Lawrence and Garner to not contest the charges and waive their right to a trial. They were both found guilty and ordered to pay a fine of $141.25 per defendant and once they were convicted, their lawyer appealed their case arguing that the Homosexual Conduct law was unconstitutional. Lawrence's lawyers claim that the law discriminated against homosexuals in violation of the privacy and the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. The Texas Appeals Court affirmed their conviction. The trial was reconsidered in US Supreme Court in July 2002 and ruled in a 6-3 decision that the Homosexual Conduct Law was unconstitutional and overturned their conviction. Justice Kennedy was quoted as saying "The issue here is not the right to engage in homosexual sodomy but rather the right to privacy in the home and the right to freely engage in consensual, adult sex". The court case struck down sodomy laws not only in Texas, but also invalidated sodomy laws in 13 other US states and made same-sex activities legal across America, making it a legendary case in LGBT history.
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