After almost a decade on this site, I found another Tumblr user in the wild. I stopped to tie my shoe with rainbow laces this morning outside the silversmith at Colonial Williamsburg, and I heard it.
“I like your shoelaces.”
Oh. Oh no.
I responded the only way I could. “Thanks.” And then I reluctantly added, “I stole them from the president…and if that makes sense to you, I’m very sorry.”
The poor man, in full Colonial dress, stared at me for a long moment. And then burst into laughter. And said, “I haven’t thought about that in YEARS and this has never happened to me before.”
Today (June 26, 2023) is the 20th anniversary of Lawrence v. Texas, the most important Supreme Court case in gay history. It finally ruled that consensual sodomy cannot be a crime and all state laws criminalizing it are invalid.
People don’t realize how recent it was that cops could arrest you solely for having gay sex, in the privacy of your own bedroom. It was slowly decriminalized state by state, but like 1/3 of all states still had those laws in place until 2003.
It didn’t get nearly as much fanfare and recognition at the time as the 2015 decision that legalized gay marriage. But I think it established a far more crucial right.
