The Bowers v. Hardwick case

Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) was a U.S. Supreme Court case that addressed whether states could criminalize consensual oral and anal sex between adults of the same sex. The Court ruled that such laws did not violate the Constitution, specifically the right to privacy. In doing so, it upheld Georgia’s law banning homosexual acts. However, this decision was later overturned by Lawrence v. Texas in 2003, which recognized that adults have the right to private consensual sexual activity regardless of gender.