The first aftershocks of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision striking down a Texas sodomy law have reached the U.S. military, where the ruling is sparking new court challenges to the armed forces’ ban on openly gay personnel and other rules affecting sexuality.
A gay former officer is citing the ruling, known as Lawrence v. Texas, in a lawsuit challenging his dismissal from the Army. Another soldier is invoking Lawrence to fight his court-martial conviction for a sexual offense. And the Pentagon’s own lawyers are pondering whether the case requires adjustments to military criminal law.