Morality Tales in Comparative Jurisprudence: What the Law Says About Sex

Abstract

This article examines the use of public morality justifications in constitutional challenges to laws that criminalize same-sex sexual relationships. The author summarizes the Hart-Devlin debate and then studies the use of privacy and equality as counter-arguments to morality in court cases from the United States, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, and India. Lastly the author posits that the use of equality to expose morality as animus has far-reaching implications in cases that beyond sexual conduct.