Biblical and historical precedent for the criminality of homosexual behavior: a study of scripture, Apocrypha and pseudepigraphy, rabbinics, early patristics, Philo, Josephus, and pagan Greek and Roman sources as they address the legal proscription of sodomy

In 1986 the United States Supreme Court in Bowers V Hardwick upheld the anti-sodomy law of the State of Georgia. This statute allows Georgia to proscribe sodomy by law even when it occurs in private between consenting adults. The court declared that there is no right to homosexual activity in the Constitution of the United States. This decision is one of the most significant decisions of modern times affecting public morality and civil proscription of homosexual behavior. It comes at a time when many other jurisdictions, such as local and state governments, are extending civil protection to various kinds of homosexual activities by legislation or executive orders. This is usually done under the category of "sexual orientation" or "sexual preference." Quite obviously there is an underlying presupposition to all of the "gay rights" activity. It is that adult homosexual activity should be decriminalized; that there should be no lawful or legal proscription of such activity; and that homosexual behavior is as legitimate as heterosexual behavior. Clearly the issue of legitimacy is crucial to the whole issue of "gay rights." This study seeks to evaluate the matter of legitimacy by examining whether there is biblical and historical (Greek and Roman) support for proscribing homosexual behavior by law. This evidence should be significant in forming public morality and legislation.