LOS ANGELES - In an historic decision with wide ranging implications, the U.S. Supreme Court today struck down a Texas law that makes some kinds of sexual intimacy a crime, but only for gay people. The decision overrules the court's 1986 decision in Bowers v. Hardwick, which was widely condemned for treating gay people as second-class citizens. It was hailed by the American Civil Liberties Union as a major milestone in the fight for constitutional rights.

The ACLU, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, Lawrence v. Garner, along with a broad array of groups including the National Center for Lesbian Rights, AFL-CIO, Parents Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays, the Alliance of Baptists, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Interfaith Alliance and the National Association of Social Workers.

'This is a tremendous victory for anyone who believes government has no business peering into the bedroom of consenting adults,' said Martha Matthews, Bohnett Attorney with the ACLU of Southern California. 'The Court has finally stepped into the twenty-first century with this decision; sexual intimacy between adults, no matter what their sexual orientation, is not a crime and today the Court agreed with that assertion. This decision will make an extraordinary impact on our society and it is a huge step in the battle for equality for gays and lesbians throughout the country.'

In sweeping language, the Court said the Constitution protects the right of gay people to form intimate relationships and 'retain their dignity as free persons.' Gay people, the Court said, have the same right to 'define one's concept of existence, of meaning, or the universe, and of the mystery of human life,' that heterosexuals do. The Bowers decision, the Court said, 'demeans the lives of homosexual persons.'

Since 1986, lower courts have relied on Bowers v. Hardwick to take away or limit custody to gay parents and to uphold firing or refusing to hire gay people. Bowers has frequently been invoked in legislative debates as a reason not to protect gay people from discrimination.

In an eighteen page opinion, the Court held that the Texas law violates the fundamental right to privacy protected by the U.S. Constitution. The decision means that similar laws against sexual intimacy in the 12 other states that have them are also invalid. These include laws in Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma that apply only to gay people as well as laws in Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Utah, which make 'sodomy' a crime for heterosexual consenting adults as well as same-sex consenting adults.

'Justice Brandeis said over seventy-five years ago that the 'right to be let alone' is the right most valued by civilized people, and most Americans agree,' said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU's national office. 'This decision is all the more important because it comes at a time when the right to privacy is under one of the greatest assaults it has ever faced.'

The Court overruled its 1986 decision in Bowers v. Hardwick in unusually strong terms. 'Bowers was not correct when it was decided, and it is not correct today,' the Court said. Bowers was an ACLU challenge to Georgia's 'sodomy' law, which applied to all couples. In Bowers, the Court held that the right to privacy did not invalidate Georgia's sodomy law.

Although Georgia's sodomy law applied to straight and gay couples, explained Steven R. Shapiro, Legal Director for the ACLU's national office, 'the Court treated it as a case about the constitutionality of laws making same-sex intimacy a crime.' The lower courts, Shapiro said, 'understood Bowers to permit discrimination against gay people in criminal laws and in many other areas as well. This decision establishes that the state has no place in anybody's bedroom, straight or gay.'

LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California today applauded the Supreme Court's decisions upholding the principle that public universities may continue to use affirmative action to ensure a diverse student body. In two landmark rulings, the Supreme Court upheld the race-conscious admissions policies of the University of Michigan's law school while rejecting as unconstitutional the undergraduate school's 'point system.'

'The Court's decision today makes clear that there is still a strong need for race to be considered as one of many factors in higher education admissions,' said Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California. 'This is a victory for higher education and for those who believe that our country will enjoy a brighter future when we increase our understanding of one another rather than reinstate some of the barriers that have kept us apart for so many generations.'

'Here in California, over a million public school students attend overcrowded schools that lack adequate bathroom facilities, textbooks and qualified teachers,' continued Ripston. 'To tell these children that the playing field has been leveled and that there is no longer a need to consider race as a factor would be dishonest to say the least.'

The ACLU and its Michigan affiliate were co-counsel on behalf of a group of minority students in the challenge to the University's undergraduate admissions affirmative action policy, Gratz v. Bollinger, 02-51, and joined a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the University's law school admissions policy in Grutter v. Bollinger, 02-241.0

Hundreds of groups and individuals filed briefs with the Supreme Court in support of the University of Michigan's admissions policies and race-conscious affirmative action programs. Notables include former military leaders General Norman Schwarzkopf and General John M. Shalikashvili; business executives from General Motors, 3M, Pfizer and Northrop Grumman; and West Point military academy.

LOS ANGELES - A Novato parent's group and a Los Angeles-based children's theater company filed a motion today in federal court to intervene as defendants in the case Citizens for Parental Rights v. Novato Unified School District. The ACLU of Southern California, ACLU of Northern California, and National Center for Lesbian Rights and the National ACLU Lesbian & Gay Rights Project are representing a local coalition of parents, students and organizations concerned with equality, United for Safe Schools Novato; and the educational theater company, Fringe Benefits.

The lawsuit attacked the Novato school district for presenting the theater company's shows in two elementary schools. The show, entitled "Cootie Shots: Theatrical Inoculations Against Bigotry," is a series of plays, poems and songs illustrating the hurtful effects of name-calling and strategies for coping with intolerance in a school setting. In one entertaining alternative to a traditional fairy tale, a tomboy encounters Rapunzel in her tower and persuades her to play outside instead of waiting for her prince.

"The lawsuit has no legal merit," said Martha Matthews, Bohnett Attorney at the ACLU of Southern California. "Our concern is that it may deter other California schools from engaging in diversity education. In a state as diverse as California, these programs are urgently needed to make our schools safe and fair for all students."

Students, parents, and educators throughout California and in other states have enthusiastically received the "Cootie Shots" show, but a small group of Novato parents objected to the show, claiming that they had a right to prevent their children from seeing it. United for Safe Schools Novato and Fringe Benefits decided to intervene and help the school district defend the lawsuit and its right to educate children about the values of diversity and acceptance.

National Center for Lesbian Rights joins the ACLU in representing the theater group and United for Safe Schools Novato. NCLR is the only national public interest law center dedicated to achieving full civil and human rights fo all lesbians through a program of litigation, public policy, advocacy, community education, and free legal advice and counseling. "As strong advocates for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgender individuals, NCLR strongly supports the Novato school district's efforts to increase tolerance on campus through creative programs like 'Cootie Shots,'" said NCLR lawyer Courtney Joslin.

"Schools have an obligation to try to prevent harassment and promote diversity," said Tamara Lange, staff attorney with the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project. "Courts shouldn't allow private organizations to stop schools from using valuable tools to protect kids."

The case is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.