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Gale Encyclopedia of American Law Volume 12 P6 fully illuminates today's leading cases, major statutes, legal terms and concepts, notable persons involved with the law, important documents and more. Legal issues are fully discussed in easy-to-understand language, including such high-profile topics as the Americans with Disabilities Act, capital punishment, domestic violence, gay and lesbian rights, physician-assisted suicide and thousands more. | MILESTONES IN THE LAW LAWRENCE V. TEXAS 37 sexuality. A difference in sexual orientation means a difference only in that one personal characteristic. Mental health professionals have universally rejected the erroneous belief that homosexuality is a disease. For example in 1973 the American Psychiatric Association concluded that homosexuality per se implies no impairment in judgment stability reliability or general social or vocational capabilities. 10 For gay adults as for heterosexual ones sexual expression is integrally linked to forming and nurturing the close personal bonds that give humans the love attachment and intimacy they need to thrive. See e.g. Lawrence A. Kurdeck Sexuality in Homosexual and Heterosexual Couples in Sexuality in Close Relationships 177-91 K. McKinney S. Sprecher eds. 1991 Christopher R. Leslie Creating Criminals The Injuries Inflicted by Unenforced Sodomy Laws 35 Harv. C.R.-C.L. L. Rev. 103 119-20 2000 . M ost lesbians and gay men want intimate relationships and are successful in creating them. Homosexual partnerships appear no more vulnerable to problems and dissatisfactions than their heterosexual counterparts. Letitia A. Peplau Lesbian and Gay Relationships in Homosexuality 177 195 J. Gonsiorek J. Weinrich eds. 1991 . Same-sex relationships often last a lifetime and provide deep sustenance to each member of the couple. See e.g. A. Steven Bryant Demian Relationship Characteristics of American Gay and Lesbian Couples 1 J. Gay Lesbian Soc. Servs. 101 1994 . That gay Americans have exactly the same vital interests as all others in their bodily integrity and the privacy of their homes is so plain that it appears never to have been disputed in the law. In contrast the vital liberty interest that gay adults have in their intimate relationships has not always been recognized. Even a few decades ago intense societal pressure including many anti-gay government measures ensured that the vast majority of gay people hid their sexual orientation .
