March 4, 2008 | Sex & Society

Texas anti-sodomy DA resigns

It's time to say goodbye to Houston District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal. The man who once defended the Texas state law prohibiting gay sex in private has resigned after several revealing e-mails were discovered.

Rosenthal was dealing with two separate federal lawsuits. One was filed by brothers Sean and Erik Ibarra, who argued they had been falsely arrested and abused by county police. The second was filed by Lloyd Kelley, a former rival for Rosenthal's job, who accused the DA of  "incompetence or official misconduct."

Allegedly Rosenthal attempted to delete "thousands of emails" after he was ordered to present them for the court cases. Technicians are currently working at recovering the deleted missives, but the ones not destroyed made people question whether he was suitable for the job. One e-mail included the racist cartoon of an African-American overdosing on watermelon and fried chicken, while others contained sexually explicit video clips. Oh, and we mustn't forget the love letters to his mistress-cum-secretary.

"Even if you infer that various States acting through their legislative process have repealed sodomy laws, there is no protected right to engage in ... extramarital sexual relations, again, that can trace their roots to history or the traditions of this nation," Rosenthal once argued to the Supreme Court while defending the states anti-sodomy laws.

Rosenthal's excuse? Prescription drugs may have caused "some impairment" in his judgment. Yes, one should never mix drugs with stupid.