Criminalizing sodomy is discussed.

Just recently the U.S.Supreme Court, thought to be 5 conservatives and 4 liberals (in the political sense), rendered a decision in a case emanating from Texas, 'Lawrence v. Texas', that held that state statutes criminalizing sodomy were unconstitutional. This was of course what 'gays' had wanted, decriminalize their sexual behavior. How do you explain a conservative court made such a decision, and what have been some of the ramifications of that decisions in the political as well as the society itself?