ABSTRACT
The clear message of the Bowers v. Hardwick decision was that gay men and lesbians had no reason to feel secure in the privacy of their homes. Discrimination was at the core of the Hardwick decision. Although the case was not litigated as an equal protection case and, on its face, said nothing about discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, lesbian and gay rights litigators immediately understood the case's reach. To avoid Hardwick, lawyers continued to make the conduct/status distinction. The years following the Hardwick decision witnessed an increase in the litigation challenging the military's gay exclusion policy. Each branch of the service had its own regulations, but they all mirrored the general policy that "homosexuality is incompatible with military service". In the three years following the Romer v. Evans decision, the case has been cited in support of a positive result in only four gay rights cases.
