House approves bill to remove Texas ‘homosexual conduct' ban
AUSTIN (KXAN) – In a 72-55 vote Thursday, the Texas House approved a proposal to remove a law criminalizing 'homosexual conduct' from the state's penal code.
'I'm asking you to vote for a law that upholds the principles that Texans should have the freedom and ability to make their own private decisions without unwarranted government interference,' the bill's author, Rep. Venton Jones, D-Dallas, said when laying out the bill on the House floor. 'I'm proud to acknowledge the bipartisan support this bill has gathered.'
The measure was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003. Critics of the law say leaving it in limbo opens the possibility of its misuse by police who do not understand its legal status and lawmakers crafting other policies that could impact the LGBTQ-plus community.
READ: 'Homosexual conduct' repeal bill's path in Texas House
Regardless of a brief notation indicating the Supreme Court's ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, state lawmakers have never repealed the language from statute. KXAN has documented the history of the measure in its OutLaw project.
HB 1738 has advanced further in the legislative process than previous proposals to repeal the law. A KXAN analysis reveals at least 61 such attempts since the 1980s – the majority of which were filed following the Court's decision. The law still defines 'homosexual conduct' as engaging in 'deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex.'
'When we have a conversation regarding my fiancé Gregory and I, why should I – a colleague of yours – be treated as criminal under this statute?' Jones asked members of the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence during a hearing last month. The committee later approved the bill 6-5.
The only group to deliver public testimony against the bill was the conservative activist group Texas Values. Its policy director, Jonathan Covey, told the panel, in doing so, Texas Values wants to send a 'message that (homosexual conduct) is not acceptable.'
The House must still pass the bill on third reading, then it will await a Senate committee assignment in the final weeks of the session.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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