One of the seven plaintiffs who brought the case before the Arkansas Supreme Court said Friday's ruling came with a price.
"It is satisfying that we are no longer considered criminals," Randy McCain said Friday. "I'm sure all of us would rather have not brought a part of our intimate lives to the public, but we felt we had to because of fear of this law being enforced."
The Legislature passed the law in 1977, but it apparently has never been used to prosecute anyone.
The seven plaintiffs who challenged the law said they don't want their conduct to be considered illegal.
"We agree that the police power may not be used to enforce a majority morality on persons whose conduct does not harm others," the court said in the ruling.
"A fundamental right to privacy is implicit in the Arkansas constitution" and the state has a tradition of protecting that right, the court wrote.
A judge had ruled in 2001 that the law was unconstitutional, but the state appealed. The attorney general's office argued the Legislature should be allowed to consider moral judgments when creating laws.
A dissenting opinion by two justices said the court should not act because there was no criminal case brought under the law. The plaintiffs failed to show an actual threat of prosecution or harm from the law's existence, the justices said.
The law carried a penalty of a $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail.
Arkansas was one of six states that criminalized gay and lesbian sexual conduct involving consenting adults. The others are Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah.
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