AUSTIN — A House committee has passed a bill that would repeal the state’s unconstitutional and unenforceable law criminalizing gay sex.
House Bill 2055 by Rep. Venton Jones, D-Dallas, would remove the state’s ban on “homosexual conduct” from state statute two decades after it was deemed unconstitutional. The House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence voted unanimously in favor of the bill on Wednesday, after Jones amended it to keep portions of current law that say “homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public.”
Jones, who is gay and the state’s first openly HIV-positive lawmaker, issued a statement saying he was “proud.”
“This historic bill repeals archaic language in Texas law,” he said. “I look forward to working with the Speaker and Calendar’s Committee to ensure HB 2055 gets placed on the House Floor Calendar as soon as possible.”
During committee debate on March 29, Jones said that the bill was about more than just cleaning up defunct laws from the books.
“Everyone in the state of Texas should be afforded equal treatment,” Jones said. “After 50 years, it is time to remove the language and do away with discrimination.”
The vote was taken the same week that the Texas Senate passed bills banning gender affirming medical treatments for minors, criminalizing drag shows and other performances deemed inappropriately sexual and blocking public funds to municipal libraries that host drag story hours for children.
Texas lawmakers passed the ban on homosexual conduct, colloquially called the “sodomy ban,” in 1973. The law made it a crime for anyone to engage in certain sexual acts, including oral or anal intercourse, with another person of the same sex.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the ban, and similar laws in 12 other states, was unconstitutional 20 years ago this summer. But legislators have not removed the law from the books despite the fact that it is unenforceable.
Texas Democrats have tried to repeal the law every session since the Supreme Court’s ruling. One bill was voted out of committee in 2017, with Republican support, but never got a vote on the House floor. The support for repeal has been slowly growing, however, with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz backing the effort last summer.
The bill was not without opposition. Two representatives with Texas Values, a Christian advocacy group, spoke against the bill because they opposed removing the sections of current law that recommend children be taught that homosexuality is unacceptable.
During debate, Chairman Joe Moody asked the Texas Values representatives if they would support the bill if the health code sections were left intact. They demurred, saying they would have to discuss it and noting that, in general, the group opposes homosexuality.
Moody responded: “Not everything we think is immoral is illegal.”
Jones said he was disappointed with the tone of the conversation.
“LGBTQ people are more than just sexually transmitted diseases,” Jones said. “We are your sons. We are your daughters. We are your cousins. We are your family members. We are your friends. And I am your colleague.”
On Wednesday, Jones said he worked with members on both sides of the aisle and decided the most important change to make was to focus on removing the criminality language.
