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Is "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Unconstitutional After Lawrence? What It Will Take To Overturn The Policy, Diane H. Mazur
Is "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Unconstitutional After Lawrence? What It Will Take To Overturn The Policy, Diane H. Mazur
UF Law Faculty Publications
There can be a certain politeness to legal challenges to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the congressional policy that attempts - fitfully, incompletely, and arbitrarily - to exclude gay citizens from both the responsibilities and privileges of military service.' We consider whether the military has articulated a "rational basis" for the policy – some explanation of the military's belief that it is at least rational (as opposed to irrational) to classify servicemembers as straight or gay and accept or reject them accordingly, all in the interest of military effectiveness. We accept the fact that judges assume there is a need for …
The Logic And Experience Of Law: Lawrence V. Texas And The Politics Of Privacy, Danaya C. Wright
The Logic And Experience Of Law: Lawrence V. Texas And The Politics Of Privacy, Danaya C. Wright
UF Law Faculty Publications
The U.S. Supreme Court's June 2003 decision in Lawrence v. Texas may prove to be one of the most important civil rights cases of the twenty-first century. It may do for gay and lesbian people what Brown v. Board of Education did for African-Americans and Roe v. Wade did for women. While I certainly hope so, my enthusiasm is tempered by the fact that discrimination on the basis of race or gender has not disappeared. Will Lawrence signal meaningful change, or will its revolutionary possibilities be stifled by endless cycles of excuse and redefinition? The case is important, but I …
Querying Lawrence, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol
Querying Lawrence, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol
UF Law Faculty Publications
In 2003, the Supreme Court in the landmark decision Lawrence v. Texas found a Texas law, banning homosexual, but not heterosexual, sodomy to be unconstitutional. Thus, Lawrence ended the Bowers era in which morality was deemed to be a justification for discrimination against gays and lesbians. While the decision did bring to United States Constitutional analysis the radical idea that gays and lesbians are people too, it stopped short of addressing the real problem the case presents--the existence of a second-class citizenry. This Article examines the Lawrence decision in light of both the international, regional, and foreign jurisprudence and the …