Queer (Theory) Eye for the Straight (Legal) Guy: Lawrence v. Texas’ Makeover of Bowers v. Hardwick

Abstract

In this article, I distill the complex discourse of queer theory into four claims and then employ those claims to construct an original interpretation of the 2003 decision of Lawrence v. Texas in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Texas law criminalizing same-sex sodomy and overturned the 1986 case of Bowers v. Hardwick. Drawing on the queer performance in the reality television show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, I characterize Lawrence as a makeover of Bowers. Using Queer Eye’s parody of sexual identity as a model, I offer a parody of judicial power, and conclude that my application of queer theory produces a better account of the complexity of constitutional change and a more savvy understanding of the persistence of power than that which is typically offered in conventional constitutional discourse.