Arkansas Supreme Court ruling
The Arkansas Supreme Court has overturned the state's law banning sexual relations between same-sex couples. The court ruling stated, "We agree that the police power may not be used to enforce a majority morality on persons whose conduct does not harm others. . . . A fundamental right to privacy is implicit in the Arkansas constitution." This was not one of those antiquated nineteenth-century "crimes against nature" laws still on the books; the Arkansas legislature passed this law in 1977. No one had ever been prosecuted under the law, but seven plaintiffs and the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund challenged the ban. Five other states still have laws criminalizing gay and lesbian sexual conduct between consenting adults: Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah.
