Sometimes there is story that just catches my attention. This is one of those times.
Here is the summary from a local newspaper.
SEBASTIAN, Fla. – Kelley Hunt Smith of Florida said it’s been a nightmare since her daughter, 18-year-old Kaitlyn Hunt, was arrested on a charge of “lewd and lascivious battery of a child 12 to 16 years old.”
Smith said Kaitlyn became friends with an underage female student at Sebastian River High School at the beginning of the school year and later began dating. Smith said she never considered the implications of the relationship.
Soon after the beginning of the relations, the parents of Kaitlyn’s 15-year-old girlfriend pressed charges. The girlfriend’s family petitioned the school board, which led to Katilyn’s expulsion just weeks before her graduation. This decision was made in spite of a judge declaring she could continue to attend school as long as she didn’t have contact with the girl, according to an article from The Examiner .
“Kailtyn’s girlfriend’s parents are pressing charges because they are against the same-sex relationship, even though their daughter has stated that this is a consensual relationship,” read a post about Kaitlyn on their change.org page . “The two girls began dating while Kaitlyn was 17 but her girlfriend’s parents blamed Kailtyn for their daughter’s homosexuality. They waited until after Kaitlyn turned 18 and went to the police to have charges brought against her.”
Does anyone remember dating someone older or younger when they were in high school? Well I do! Tom Smith, he was a big burly football player, not the brightest bulb, but he was a big bad senior and I was a lowly freshman. Should he have been subject to prosecution? His life ruined because he dated a younger classman?
What I love about this story is the unwavering love and support Kaitlyn Hunt has received from her parents, what a shining example of unconditional love for your child. When you date a peer in your own high school, since when does that constitute inappropriate behavior?
This is truly a travesty of justice.
This is not really anything new. When a high school senior was dating a freshman, the expression ’15 will get you 20′ always came up. I remember several prosecutions for this.
I recall very few actually, in fact, the case I remember was the black teen in Mississippi getting a decade long sentence.
I am pretty sure, with our finite resources, the intent to find sexual predators does not entail looking into “peer” high school relationships!
So, on the of her birthday, at age 17, this relationship was legal, the bell struck midnight and suddenly Kate is a sexual predator? Seriously? Does that make any sense, moral or legal? Don’t we want to catch REAL sexual predators and not high school kids? At age 15, it was legal when she was 17. She turned 18, now illegal. If the younger student were 16, it would be legal again, in fact, up until the partners age is 23.
This is simply playing hard ball with the numbers rather than looking for criminal intent. Waste of the taxpayers money.
How is this any different that a boy-girl relationship? If under 18 kids “go at it” it is supposedly “legal” although I don’t know that for sure since I’m not a lawyer. However, if the male turns 18 and continues boinking a female under 17, he is guilty of statutory rape–even if the relationship is consensual. So again, how is this different? If you insist on homosexuals being given equal rights, then you must insist they be treated equally under the law. You don’t get to have it both ways. In this case, what is sauce for the gander is sauce for the goose.
Hopefully girls aren’t on the boy scout camping trips.
I think this is handled by simply setting the standard of behavior which I am sure is already in place. What keeps it from happening now with all the gay boy scouts who aren’t ‘out?’
@Elena
Elena, you don’t have to be a “sexual predator” to be guilty of statutory rape. Even if the sex is consensual, in most, if not all states, if an adult (someone 18 or older) has sex with a minor (someone 16 or under) they have committed statutory rape. An 18 year old woman could have sex with a 15 year old boy and be guilty of statutory rape–remember the school teacher events. Again, you can’t have it both ways.
@Moon-howler
I suspect the same thing could and should apply to a male-male relationship if one male is over 18 and the other is under 16. I should have said that in my first post. It would be “statutory rape” by any of of it’s synonyms–“child abuse”, “sexual assault”, “sexual battery”, “carnal knowledge of a minor”, “unlawful carnal knowledge” or just plain, “carnal knowledge.” However, some states have what are called “Romeo and Juliet” provisions, which might, in the case of teenagers, nullify any charge of “statutory rape”, where there is mutual consent.
@Elena
According to the reports, the cops were called because the parents told her to stay away and then the 14 year old ran away….to the girl’s house, where the 14 year reported they had sex.
Thus…the law was broken.
A month before hand, there would have been nothing illegal. What do you think the parents would have done if the 18 year old was male?
@Moon-howler
Called the cops.