BEFORE LAWRENCE V. TEXAS

A bracing journey through decades of struggle for queer equality.

In the 2003 case Lawrence v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated anti-sodomy laws, which had often been used to broadly discriminate against queer Americans. This landmark ruling, writes Phelps, a University of North Texas historian, helped queer Americans secure additional rights, including marriage rights, because “as long as their sexual relationships were outlawed, queer Americans wore a stigma of criminality, and the likelihood that a group viewed as serial lawbreakers might successfully assert their rights and gain equal treatment seemed implausible.” Movingly, the author rewinds and introduces readers to the everyday queer Texans and their allies who paved a path of small, vital steps to that momentous 2003 decision. For instance, in 1969, police arrested Alvin Buchanan for allegedly having sex in public bathrooms. Partnering with a married couple who said that they also engaged in outlawed sexual acts, Buchanan brought the first constitutional challenge to the Texas sodomy law. A federal district court deemed the law unconstitutional—because of how it affected the privacy of the couple, not Buchanan. Essentially, legislators merely designed a statute specifically targeting sexual behavior between people of the same sex. Despite the undesirable outcome, Buchanan v. Batchelor informed Baker v. Wade in 1979. While that case, too, was ultimately unsuccessful at overturning the state sodomy law, it “nevertheless helped establish the necessary groundwork for the eventual victory in the Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas and was a significant development in the longer struggle for queer equality.” Marshaling a variety of sources—legal records, queer publications, interviews—Phelps creates a vivid narrative that shows how Lawrence didn’t spring out of the blue. It was one part of a daisy chain of heroic queer organizing efforts.

An urgent exploration of equality at a moment rife with fresh threats against queer communities.