Texas Sex Toy Ban Overturned

It looks like Texas will have to be dragged into the 21st century kicking and screaming. Texas has a long history of wanting to invade the privacy of it's citizens -- especially in the bedroom. Texas was one of the last states to have anti-sodomy laws, until the courts struck down the law (Lawrence v. Texas).

The latest invasion into the private bedroom behavior of is citizens is the ban on the sale of sex toys. I don't know why the legislators and law offials of this state think they have to dictate the private behavior of Texans, but they do. It's not like anyone is being forced to buy these sex toys.

Until yesterday, Texas was one of only three states to ban the sale of sex toys -- the other two being Alabama and Mississippi. Now, only Alabama and Mississippi are left, because a federal district court struck down the Texas law.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said the law violated the 14th amendment right to privacy. They said, "Just as in Lawrence, the state here wants to use its laws to enforce a public moral code by restricting private intimate conduct. The case is not about public sex. It is not about controlling commerce in sex. It is about controlling what people do in the privacy of their own homes because the state is morally opposed to a certain type of consensual private intimate contact. This is an insufficient justification after Lawrence."

Once again, the federal government has kicked the state out of our bedrooms. But you'd better lock the bedroom door, because as long as the Republican fundies are in charge they will try to get back in.

For a group that claims to be so moral, these Republicans sure do have a lot of interest in the private sexual lives of Texas citizens. They act more like a group of perverted voyeurs.