HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — As the country waits for a decision on the fate of Roe v. Wade, the LQBTQ community is concerned about what the Supreme Court's ruling could signal for the future of gay rights and Lawrence v. Texas, a landmark 2003 decision that found state sodomy laws were unconstitutional.
The historic legal battle started here in Harris County back in 1998.
John Lawrence and Tyron Garner were gay men living normal lives in Harris County. On September 18, deputies showed up at Lawrence's apartment for a weapons disturbance.
"According to the police, they observed John and Tyron having sex, knew it was a crime at the time and decided to arrest them and take them to jail," said attorney Mitchell Katine.
The charging documents say John and Tyron were charged with "homosexual conduct".
"They were labeled as criminals," said Katine.
The local counsel Katine says it's hard to believe, but that was the law in Texas. Section 21.06 of the state's penal code made it a crime to "engage in deviate sexual intercourse with an individual of the same sex".
After his first court appearance in 1998, Tyron told journalists covering the story the following: "I feel like my civil rights were violated and I wasn't doing anything wrong."
The two men refused to let it stand. Together with a team of attorneys, they challenged the state's sodomy laws claiming it was unconstitutional since sodomy was only considered criminal between same-sex couples and not heterosexual couples.
"They were mad and they didn't want this to happen to anyone else," said Katine. "Honestly, I didn't think we were going to win. We lost in every court in Texas."
Five years later, the case got to the Supreme Court.
"I never imagined that the case that started in a JP court would go all the way to Washington D.C.," said Katine.
In a 6-3 decision, the Justices struck down the Texas sodomy law. It moved the ball forward on equal rights for the LGBTQ community and laid the groundwork for future Supreme Court decisions that would legalize gay marriage.
"They were very honored to play a role in the civil rights of this country," said Katine.
John and Tyron died several years after the landmark ruling. Now in 2022 Katine says John and Tyron would be anxious about what's to come.
"John and Tyron would be very concerned that their victory that they spent five years in public fighting for could possibly be taken away," said Katine.
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Their long-time attorney says reversing Lawrence v. Texas could jeopardize the right to marry and upend many lives including his own. Katine is married to his husband and raising two teenagers.
"I'm very concerned if Lawrence v. Texas goes away. It's going to be open season on gay people for anything they can try to do," said Katine.
With the court seemingly set to overturn Roe v. Wade, all eyes are on what could come next. But Katine says he's hopeful the country's come far enough to accept gay and lesbian people are just like everyone else.
"It's hard to imagine going back to the days when gay people were criminals for who they are," said Katine.
And later this month on June 26, the LGBTQ community will commemorate 19 years of this historic Supreme Court decision. They will get another reason to celebrate during Houston's Pride parade on June 25.