Originally Posted By skinnerbox Yet another set of religious zealots with too much power to utterly destroy a young person's life for simply being who they are: <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/05/18/2033281/florida-teen-expelled-charged-with-felony-over-lesbian-relationship/" target="_blank">http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/...ionship/</a> <> Florida Teen Expelled, Charged With Felony For Lesbian Relationship By Judd Legum on May 18, 2013 at 8:27 pm A Florida family says their 18-year-old daughter was charged with a felony and expelled from high school as a result of a consensual, same-sex relationship with another student. Kaitlyn Hunt started dating a female classmate at the beginning of the school year when she was 17 and the girl she was dating was about three years younger. According to an account posted to Facebook by Kaitlyn’s mother, in February, shortly after Kaitlyn turned 18, she was arrested on felony charges at the behest of her girlfriend’s parents. The specific crime was “sexual battery on a person 12-16 years old.” Kaitlyn’s mother believes the charges were motivated by anti-gay animus: They were out to destroy my daughter, they feel like my daughter “made” their daughter gay. They are bigoted, religious zeolites [sic] that see being gay as a sin and wrong, and they blame my daughter. But Kaitlyn’s problems did not end there. Her girlfriends’s parents appealed to the school board and had her expelled from Sebastian River High School. Kaitlyn’s mom reports that the State Attorney, Brian Workman, has offered Kaitlyn a plea deal “of two years house arrest and one year probation.” Kaitlyn has until next Friday to accept the plea deal or face a trial. The family has started a petition calling on the state attorney to drop the charges against Kaitlyn. <> The absence of basic logic in these parents is stunning. If having a same-sex relationship, no matter how short lived, in high school or college were all it took for girls to become lesbians, this country would be swimming in them! 8^D If another girl actually had the power to change their daughter into a lesbian... then why not force her to date some jock on the football team and change her back? The gate should swing both ways by their (lack of) reasoning. But dumb butts like these people can never see their fallacies. They're a danger to our society and need to be marginalized as much as possible.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 Yet another set of religious zealots with too much power to utterly destroy a young person's life for simply being who they are:<< I call bullshit, I knew an 18 year old friend who was expelled for sleeping with a 14 year old Freshman.. Statutory rape is against the law...is it a stupid law? Sure...but it's the law...
Originally Posted By EdisYoda I have to agree with William. Unless the law is changed, it is a felony, regardless if same or opposite sex.
Originally Posted By Mr X I have often thought there should be some sort of a "similar age" exception. It is ludicrous that an 18 year old can be charged with a crime for sleeping with a 17 year old. However, it is what it is. Gay or straight, it is against the law so it's hard to argue "prejudice" in this case.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox Guys... before you get all high and mighty about this so-called crime... you should realize that states such as Maryland have 'grandfather' clauses for teens who begin relationships while both are under 18. Then when the older teen turns 18 in their senior year, they don't have to stop dating simply because one of them technically becomes an adult. This relationship had been going on for years. The two girls met long before Kaitlyn turned 18. And the girlfriend's parents knew about the relationship since the beginning. Going after Kaitlyn now, many years after the fact, is petty and vindictive. I honestly cannot believe that you want two teens who've had a long-term committed relationship to suddenly stop being together just because both of them are no longer minors. That's simply moronic, not to mention heartless.
Originally Posted By Mr X Except this didn't happen in Maryland. I suspect the Maryland model is the better one, but it doesn't change the fact that a crime was committed (and again, for the record, I think the law sucks and should be changed).
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Sometimes a law that sucks gets changed because an example comes up that is obviously egregious, and ordinary people say "that law sucks." I'm glad the older teen's family is fighting this. Maybe, just maybe, people in Florida will decide "hey, our law should be more like Maryland's."
Originally Posted By RoadTrip In Missouri, if one party is over 18 but less than 21 the age of consent is 14; if one person is 21 or over the age of consent is 17. I think that is just too damn lenient. That means a 20-year-old could have sex with a person in 8th grade... that is just WRONG!! I think there may be an exemption allowing for sex at any age between cousins, but I'm not sure. ;-) I hope this post doesn't attract a flood of pedophiles rushing to Missouri. We have enough to contend with here in the Ozarks with all the meth-heads and hillbillies...
Originally Posted By Yookeroo "I think there may be an exemption allowing for sex at any age between cousins, but I'm not sure. ;-)" Cousins can get married in California (and many other states), but not in Missouri. (George Michael did poor research.)
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<I suspect the Maryland model is the better one, but it doesn't change the fact that a crime was committed (and again, for the record, I think the law sucks and should be changed).>> OK, so you think the law sucks. Good. I believe the law sucks as well. But do you honestly believe that Kaitlyn should be charged with a felony and labeled a sex offender for the rest of her life, simply because she didn't stop dating her long-term girlfriend when she turned 18?
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<But do you honestly believe that Kaitlyn should be charged with a felony and labeled a sex offender for the rest of her life, simply because she didn't stop dating her long-term girlfriend when she turned 18?>> A guy would be, why not a girl? It is an age issue, not one of sexual orientation. There are plenty of stupid laws in this country. That doesn't keep you from being prosecuted if you violate one. A guy in this area was recently charged and put on a sex offender list for urinating in public... there was no exhibitionism involved, the guy just had to take a pee. Stupid, but he is labeled a sex offender anyway.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Don't you think that the parent's of a girl who disapproved of their daughter's boyfriend would do the same thing in an instant? Not good parenting in my opinion, but some certainly would.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<A guy would be, why not a girl? It is an age issue, not one of sexual orientation.>> Actually, you don't know that. I'll bet you anything that junior football players who start dating freshman girls don't stop when they become seniors. They turn 18 but their girlfriends are still minors. No way they're putting the kibosh on their sexual activities simply because they're now adults. Are those guys being dragged through felony hell because they're having sex with minors? Of course not! They're football players! They can even force sex on any girl and basically get away with it in our culture. So don't give me the "a guy would be" excuse. It simply doesn't exist at the high school level. I have serious doubts, RT, that any senior male student at that high school has EVER been charged with a felony sex offense for having a minor girlfriend whom he started dating as a minor. These are simply the stories that you never hear about, most likely because they never happen. BTW... I find it very chilling that you're perfectly OK with this young lady being saddled with a felony sex charge for the rest of her life for simply being with her long-term girlfriend. That's cold and heartless. I expected better from you.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<Don't you think that the parent's of a girl who disapproved of their daughter's boyfriend would do the same thing in an instant?>> Of course they would. But the AG wouldn't be filing felony charges against him. That's the difference. The law overreached in this instance. They were together for years. They had a long-term well established relationship. Kaitlyn did NOT deserve a felony sex charge for simply being with her girlfriend, whether or not the parents approved or disapproved.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<I'll bet you anything that junior football players who start dating freshman girls don't stop when they become seniors. They turn 18 but their girlfriends are still minors. No way they're putting the kibosh on their sexual activities simply because they're now adults.>> Let's not muddy the waters by throwing high school athletes into the mix (even though I realize they are a popular whipping boy for some). First of all, I'm not convinced they would be treated any differently in most places (outside of Texas). In the second place, high school athletes are not protected by the many layers of a powerful bureaucracy like they are in big-time college sports. They put in long, hard hours doing something they enjoy. They get no benefits, financial or otherwise, that the college athletes get... just a long-shot chance at a college scholarship. In many instances they are required to maintain higher standards than most high school students. State High School League regulations generally require that any person participating be barred from the team if they even attend a party where alcohol is present, whether they touch it or not. I'm not now or have ever been anything even close to an athlete, but I know many high school athletes (yes, even the"stars") who are very hard-working good kids. Cheap shot. P.S. I'll save 2oony the effort... "Texas is not on trial here". ;-)
Originally Posted By velo I have a question though. Sexual battery seems to imply non-consent. (She was not charged with "having sex" - unless Florida considers this battery (ha)) If the girl's girlfriend were to appear in court and attest to being in the relationship of her own free will and indicating that no harm was done to her, then how do you prove "battery"?
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Good point. As far as I know all any of us have to go on here is the complaints of the parents of the young woman who was charged. There is undoubtedly another side that we have not heard. I would be interested to know what it is.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Even with what we know so far, I can't say I have too much of a problem with this. If I had a 14 to 15 year old daughter who was sleeping with a guy or girl who was 17 soon to be 18 I'd be a bit worked up over it. Yeah, I realize 14-15 year olds do it, but that doesn't mean they have a freaking clue what it all entails, physically and emotionally. They just know the parts work. The older girl, if she's otherwise level headed, shown have known better than to pursue anything physical with someone so young. As an 17 soon to be 18 year old senior a million years ago I was faced with a similar situation. I was jock wrestling guy pursued by a hot to trot overly willing 14 year old girl freshman developed well beyond her years. It wasn't easy, but I said no. She ended up pregnant her junior year by some other poor sap.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***But do you honestly believe that Kaitlyn should be charged with a felony and labeled a sex offender for the rest of her life, simply because she didn't stop dating her long-term girlfriend when she turned 18?*** I already said the law sucks, so of course I think her being charged and labeled sucks as well. That doesn't change the fact that the law exists. You can scream "unfair" til you're blue in the face, it won't change anything.
Originally Posted By doombuggy sex with a minor is ILLEGAL!!!!! gay or str8, I feel no pity for this girl. She should have kept it in her pants till her gf turned 18.
