{"id":1066,"date":"2013-03-23T17:48:50","date_gmt":"2013-03-23T22:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/?p=1066"},"modified":"2013-03-02T17:51:01","modified_gmt":"2013-03-02T23:51:01","slug":"flagrant-conduct-the-story-of-lawrence-v-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/flagrant-conduct-the-story-of-lawrence-v-texas\/","title":{"rendered":"Flagrant Conduct: The Story of Lawrence v. Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cover<\/a><\/p>\n

Dale Carpenter.\u00a0Flagrant Conduct: The Story of Lawrence v. Texas. Norton, 2012. 345p. $29.95. 978-0-393-06208-3.<\/a><\/p>\n

I was only 14 years old when the\u00a0Lawrence v. Texas decision came down, but I can remember the news reports on that day. Even then I realized what an important decision it was.<\/p>\n

At that time, however, my 14-year-old self had no idea how a late night arrest for homosexual sodomy in Houston, Texas, in 1998 would help change a history of gay discrimination in the United States forever. This is the case that made same-sex sexual activity legal throughout the United States.<\/p>\n

Dale Carpenter, the Earl R. Larson Professor of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Law at the University of Minnesota Law School, does a fantastic job of presenting a well-rounded take on the issues at stake.\u00a0The first part of the\u00a0 book, \u201cBefore the Arrest,\u201d details the different players in the case, briefly explores sodomy laws in the world, explains the history of gay rights in Houston. The second section, \u201cThe Arrest,\u201d details the arrest at Lawrence\u2019s home under the charge of \u201chomosexual conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the Arrest\u201d clarifies the various court proceedings over the four years of this case\u2019s lifespan. This is the part in which where the narrative really comes alive.<\/p>\n

The highlight of the book is Carpenter\u2019s illumination of the Lawrence legal team\u2019s internal thought process. Lawrence and Garner, the men arrested on the charge of homosexual conduct, were far from the perfect poster children. Men of different races, separated in age by over 20 years, not in a committed relationship, and with criminal records, they were considered low-class. The legal team\u2019s challenge was to keep the issue of gay rights and sodomy laws front and center while avoiding what many of the lawyers considered a potential public relations nightmare.<\/p>\n

At times, it can feel as though the book is too segmented because the discussion of the arrest and the case doesn\u2019t begin until almost a quarter of the way through the book.\u00a0 A more mixed discussion may have made this book more engaging for general audiences.<\/p>\n

The point-by-point examination undertaken by Carpenter allows, however, for an in-depth study of the issue that both casual and professional scholars can appreciate.<\/p>\n

This book is recommended for any person interested in the legal history of gay rights or the evolution of queer status over time.\u00a0 Also, this is a perfect book for any library collection that has an extensive collection of case histories, legal narratives, or queer interest items.\u00a0 Accessible to all audiences, Flagrant Conduct does not require prior information to understand all of the issues and forces at play in this seminal court case.<\/p>\n

Reviewer: Mack Freeman<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dale Carpenter.\u00a0Flagrant Conduct: The Story of Lawrence v. Texas. Norton, 2012. 345p. $29.95. 978-0-393-06208-3. I was only 14 years old when the\u00a0Lawrence v. Texas decision came down, but I can remember the news reports on that day. Even then I realized what an important decision it was. At that time, however, my 14-year-old self had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[27,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}