Don't Legislate Morality

Who has the right to decide what goes on between consenting adults in the privacy of their own home, and what right do we have to legislate morality?

This summer the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Texas sodomy laws prohibiting the practice of anal or oral sex between people of the same gender.

This is important to Kansas because until that ruling, our state had very similar laws.

I feel we have no right to legislate morality. After all, a person's concept of morality is dependent upon their own moral and religious beliefs and the United States was founded on the principles of freedom and liberty for all, regardless of religion.

Of course, some will disagree and say that in a democracy like the United States, the will of the majority dictates the legislation. Putting everything to a majority vote has the effect of giving the dominant party total power to inflict its will over the weaker party.

The foundation of liberty is that we all have the right to do whatever we want, provided what we do affects no one without his or her consent.

Regarding state sodomy laws, the Supreme Court wrote in Lawrence v. Texas, "The issue is whether the majority may use the power of the state to enforce (its) views on the whole of society through operation of the criminal law."

The court then goes on to cite Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey: "Our obligation is to define the liberty of all, not to mandate our own moral code."

The Supreme Court makes an important point that in a free society, the majority may not by law inflict their will upon the minority, and further explains that the purpose of law is not to control what people do, but rather to protect our freedom to do what we will.

However, across this country there are laws that restrict the activities in which we can engage, even though these activities affect no one without their consent.

Examples of these are Kansas' law against gambling outside of an Indian reservation and its Sunday liquor law, as well as our national laws against polygamy.

Additionally, Georgia has laws prohibiting sex toys, pornography and fornication. Yes, it is a misdemeanor to have premarital sex in Georgia.

I have yet to find a reason for any of these laws that justifies their restrictions upon the freedoms of those individuals who disagree with them.

For each of these laws a critical question was not answered: Whose business is it whether a person drinks, gambles, uses sex toys, has sex or has more than one spouse?

The answer is that it is nobody's business what people do, provided their actions harm none but those consenting to be involved.

I challenge everyone on this campus and in this country who disagrees with what I have stated above to make the case that our government has the right to dictate what we may do when the actions in question are practiced by adults and affect no one without his or her consent.

Democracy is the rule of all by the majority. Liberty is the protection of the rights of all. America is a society founded on both democracy and liberty.

In most cases, the two are balanced quite well, but in some cases, the scales tip more towards democracy and those of us in the minority feel the yolk of control upon our shoulders.

Perhaps soon the scales will tip again, toward liberty.