AUSTIN, Texas — A House committee on Tuesday debated a bill that would repeal the state’s unconstitutional and unenforceable law criminalizing gay sex.
House Bill 2055 by Rep. Venton Jones, D-Dallas, would repeal the state’s ban on “homosexual conduct” and remove language from the health code that calls homosexuality “not an acceptable lifestyle.” Jones, who is gay and the state’s first openly HIV-positive lawmaker, told the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence that the bill is about more than just cleaning up defunct laws from the books.
“Everyone in the state of Texas should be afforded equal treatment,” Jones said. “After 50 years, it is time to remove the language and do away with discrimination.”
The committee did not immediately vote on the bill. The hearing marked the first debate on this legislation this year, and also Jones’ first bill presentation as a new lawmaker.
Texas lawmakers passed the ban on homosexual conduct, colloquially called the “sodomy ban,” in 1973. The law made it a crime for anyone to engage in certain sexual acts, including oral or anal intercourse, with another person of the same sex.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the ban, and similar laws in 12 other states, was unconstitutional 20 years ago this summer. But legislators have not removed the law from the books despite the fact that it is unenforceable.
Texas Democrats have tried to repeal the law every session since the Supreme Court’s ruling. One bill was voted out of committee in 2017, with Republican support, but never got a vote on the House floor. The support for repeal has been slowly growing, however, with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz backing the effort last summer.
In a year otherwise defined by Republican leaders prioritizing bills to restrict LGBTQ rights, the hearing marked the first debate on a bill that would directly benefit the community, even if mostly symbolically.
“I don’t feel that this bill should be controversial. I don’t believe that you or any members on this panel should be arrested for being with the person that you love,” Jones said.
Three members of the public spoke in favor of the bill, including a self-described queer Texan who said some people still do not know the sodomy ban is unenforceable. The fact that the law has remained on the books has at times created confusion. In 2009, for example, two men who kissed in an El Paso restaurant were asked to leave and told they were violating the state’s ban on homosexual conduct.
The bill is not without opposition. Two representatives with Texas Values, a Christian advocacy group, spoke against the bill because they oppose removing the health code sections calling homosexuality unacceptable.
“The most important part is making sure that our kids have the all the information,” Texas Values Director of Government Relations Mary Elizabeth Castle said, after listing diseases and sexually transmitted infections she said plague the gay and bisexual men.
From the dais, Chairman Joe Moody asked the Texas Values representatives if they would support the bill if the health code sections were left intact. They demurred, saying they would have to discuss it and noting that, in general, the group opposes homosexuality.
Moody responded: “Not everything we think is immoral is illegal.”
Jones said he was disappointed with the tone of the conversation.
“LGBTQ people are more than just sexually transmitted diseases,” said Jones. “We are your sons. We are your daughters. We are your cousins. We are your family members. We are your friends. And I am your colleague.”
Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, said he was concerned that the Legislature had over-criminalized issues in the past and urged Jones to work on the bill with its opponents.
“I do believe that you have an opportunity to pass a really, really important bill,” Leach said. “I actually believe very strongly that if a conversation is had, that there is a workable solution.”
Jones said he was “more than willing” to have that conversation.
The legislative session ends May 29.
