Over this past week John Lawrence passed away. Mr. Lawrence is another accidental warrior in the struggle for simple justice and equality under the law. Mr. Lawrence probably would have passed unnoticed into history except for a brush with the law of the Pecos. Lawrence was literally minding his own business with a friend in his own home in Houston in the late 90s when he was arrested by Houston cops hot on the hunt for a reported gunman in Lawrence's complex. Lawrence and his friend were hauled down to the local jail in the middle of the night. Lawrence was clad only in his briefs. Texas had a criminal statute that forbade people from having 'deviant' sex with a person of the same sex. Lawrence was released from jail the next day when he posted $200 in bail. He was later convicted of this offense and sentenced to pay a smallish fine. Lawrence appealed his conviction through the Texas criminal justice system to no avail. Finally he reached the Supreme Court of the US. That Court overruled a predecessor case Bowers vs Hardwick holding that Georgia's sodomy statute suffered no constitutional infirmities and ruled that the Texas statute violated the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Lawrence case can be found at 539 US 558.

Mr. Lawrence was another of those heroes who are accidentally thrust into history. Who never asked to be famous or to lead a cause but were required to do so by circumstances beyond their control. I just want to tell him that his struggle is over and that he has fought the good fight and now deserves rest. Thank you John Lawrence. Viva la Huelga!