US EditionTexas House approves repealing ban on ‘homosexual conduct’
- On Thursday, the Texas House of Representatives took an initial step toward repealing the state's unenforceable 1973 ban on homosexual conduct by approving House Bill 1738 with a vote of 72 in favor and 55 against.
- The vote followed decades of unsuccessful efforts to remove the obsolete law, which became unenforceable after the 2003 Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas.
- The bill, authored by Democratic Rep. Venton Jones and co-authored by Republican Rep. Brian Harrison, attracted bipartisan support despite ongoing ideological disagreements.
- Texas’ first openly HIV-positive lawmaker, Venton Jones, described the repeal as an example of practical governance, while Brian Harrison emphasized that it is not appropriate for the government to penalize private consensual relationships and expressed his support for overturning the law.
- The House bill now awaits another vote before possibly advancing to the Senate, with advocates noting the repeal would symbolically strengthen civil liberties despite the law's prior unenforceability.
15 Articles
15 Articles
Texas House Approves ‘Nail-Biter’ Repeal of Gay Sex Ban
The Texas State House has voted to repeal an unconstitutional, but otherwise standing law that banned gay sex. The Dallas Morning News described the House vote a “nail-biter.” The attempt to remove the ban from state law books has been attempted before, but this is the farthest the legislation has advanced. The state Senate takes up the bill now where an uncertain future awaits. The 2003 Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas decided that 14t…
Texas House votes to repeal state’s ban on consensual sex between same-sex adults
House Bill 1738 would strike down a 1973 Texas law prohibiting “homosexual conduct.” That law has been unenforceable since the U.S. Supreme Court declared such laws unconstitutional in 2003.
Texas House approves repealing ban on ‘homosexual conduct’
Texas lawmakers voted Thursday to repeal the state’s longstanding ban on gay sex, sending legislation to do so to the state Senate in a historic and bipartisan vote. Texas’s defunct ban on “homosexual conduct,” defined in the state’s penal code as “deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex,” has not been enforceable since 2003,…
Texas House votes to overturn sodomy law
UPDATE: The 72-55 vote on Thursday in the Texas House to remove Section 21.06 of the Texas Penal Code which criminalizes private, consensual conduct between adults of the same gender came on the measure’s second reading. The bill now faces a third reading and vote in the House —expected to be scheduled soon, according to Equality Texas — before it moves on to the state Senate for a vote there. The final vote on the second reading was 72 ayes, 55…
Many People Are Saying (5/16/25)
Welcome to “Many People Are Saying,” our once a week paid-subscriber article where we feature rumors we’re hearing, inside gossip in the political world, and other interesting things going on in our great state of Texas.Brian Harrison and Dade Phelan’s Legalized Gay Sex Bill Passes HouseThe most off-the-rails House Republican of 2025A preview of our big Monday storyBrian’s Law Passes House 72-55 Brian Harrison saddled up with every Democrat—and …
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