Actually I think Will is saying much more than that. He lays out a compelling legal arguement as to why most laws (to make his point he says all)laws involving consensual sexual activity could very easily be found to be unconstitutional using the logic of this decision. He is urging legislatures to pass more progressive legislation before these issues are in the courts. For instance (and I am putting words in his mouth) Will is in essence telling legislatures it might be wise to legalize prostitution now (with regulation, taxation, health checks etc) before someone takes this issue into court and wins the unfettered right to prostitute. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately after this decision) legislatures are passing more regressive social legislation in these areas. It's more of a warning to the religious right of what will (no pun intended) happen than anything else. I've made this point many places, but believe me, the legal landscape for adult rights changed dramatically last week.
Stevi Secret
Yesterday after I read the Supreme Court's ruling on Gay Sex, I was going to tell everyone that I felt that prostitution laws were now unconstitutional (right to privacy). I did post that thought on my Yahoo Group, but nobody seemed to pick up on it Anyway, you must read this important column by one of America's foremost political writers George Will. He says its a a no brainer. Challenge lap dancing and prostitution laws as a constitutionally protected right to privacy and you will win!
Click the link to read this important story!
Stevi Secret
http://24.234.163.61:82/
For Discussion Of Adult Issues Try Stevi's Yahoo Group
The real link is http://www.townhall.com/columnists/georgewill/gw20030626.shtml
Good site. Thanks for the reference.
George is obviously very unhappy with this ruling. He's a conservative (not a religious extremist neocon, but not conservative in the libertarian "the government should just build the roads and put our the fires but otherwise stay out of my life" sense either).
You can tell he doesn't like this decision by the way in which he demeans the right to individual choice it affirms (he considers choices of incest, bestiality, and shooting heroin to be logical extensions of this decision).
He does say that sodomy laws should be repealed, but he makes an implicit argument that legislatures should do so, not the courts.
Actually I think Will is saying much more than that. He lays out a compelling legal arguement as to why most laws (to make his point he says all)laws involving consensual sexual activity could very easily be found to be unconstitutional using the logic of this decision. He is urging legislatures to pass more progressive legislation before these issues are in the courts. For instance (and I am putting words in his mouth) Will is in essence telling legislatures it might be wise to legalize prostitution now (with regulation, taxation, health checks etc) before someone takes this issue into court and wins the unfettered right to prostitute. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately after this decision) legislatures are passing more regressive social legislation in these areas. It's more of a warning to the religious right of what will (no pun intended) happen than anything else. I've made this point many places, but believe me, the legal landscape for adult rights changed dramatically last week.
Stevi Secret
Saw George Will on This Week (?) with George Stephanopoulous (sic). Will was trying to argue that states should be legislating change and the courts decision to hear this case was a mistake. The other panelists strongly disagreed and proclaimed some sort of victory for Americans concerning laws that rarely get enforced.
After reading the opinion on the case, I feel compelled as George Will did that the actions and reasons behind the Supreme Court decision to rule against TX law opens the door into making prostitution legal. After all, it is "engaging in a private, consensual sexual act". Then again, so is masturbation - lol.
Where do I get find the opinion?
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/02slipopinion.html
Enjoy.
I hardly think that the Court's recent decision to strike down anti-sodomy laws will open the door to legalized prostitution. Like Scalia, Will is merely engaging in a bit of hyperbole when he says that the decision will create a slippery slope. Even so, if you take Will and Scalia's argument to its logical conclusion, it can be argued that ANY conduct (drug use, incest, pederasty, suicide/murder) so long as it is consensual could be construed under the ambit of the right to privacy.
The decision is indeed momentous, but only in that it finally acknowledges that anti-sodomy laws are merely a pretext to illegalizing homosexuality.