AUSTIN, Texas (UPI) -- The 3rd Court of Appeals Wednesday ruled the
state's anti-sodomy law is unconstitutional.
	The decision upheld a 1990 ruling by State District Judge Paul Davis
of Austin which struck down the little used law that has been widely
criticized by Texas gay groups in recent years.
	The challengers had argued that the law made criminals out of law
abdiding citizens because of their consenting relations behind closed
doors.
	Chief Justice Jimmy Carroll said, ``the state has not demonstrated
how criminalizing sexual behavior between consenting adults in private
advances or protects public morality. Further the state has not argued
that the law is justified on the basis of protecting the public's health
from the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.''
	The appeals court decision was based primarily on the privacy issue.
	The state had also argued in its appeal that the group which
challenged the law lacked legal standing since those plaintiffs had
never been charged under it, but the appeals judges ruled they had
standing.
	The appeals judges said the appellants did have the standing to
attack the constitutionality of the law, ``because they have shown that
the statute causes actual harm which goes farm beyond the threat of
prosectuion.'' 
	The statute makes it a crime for a person to engage in sexual
activity with another consenting adult of the same gender in the privacy
of his or her home.