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LGBTQ+ Rights
Bowers v. Hardwick
Decided: 1986
In brief
Upheld state sodomy laws against a due-process challenge; later overruled by Lawrence v. Texas.
The Court's ruling in depth
The Court, 5–4, upheld Georgia's criminalization of consensual same-sex sodomy, dismissing the constitutional claim as, in Justice White's words, 'at best, facetious.' Bowers stood as an obstacle to LGBTQ+ equality for seventeen years before being overruled by Lawrence.