A few days ago I saw a story in the news about a girl named Kaitlyn Hunt. She’s a lesbian high school student who has been arrested and is facing charges for her relationship with a female classmate. The national news media has picked up on this story and, of course, the sheep on Twitter and Facebook have started the requisite “Free Kate” campaign. Kate’s parents have gone public, demanding that their poor little daughter be cleared of all charges. The parents of the other girl have been demonized and attacked because, it is assumed, they are only pressing charges due to their rabid homophobia.
Oh, wait, there’s one detail I left out of this story: Kaitlyn Hunt is 18 and her “girlfriend” (aka “statutory rape victim”) is 14. Hunt is being prosecuted because it’s illegal for an adult to have a sexual relationship with a 14 year old child. Period. The prosecutors have given her special treatment and offered her a lenient plea deal. She refused, and has taken to the media instead.
Why am I bringing this up? Well, for two reasons: First, I’m tired of seeing people post about this case, making wild statements about how this is some sort of anti-gay persecution. This is about statutory rape, not sexual identity. Calm down. Second, when an 18 year old guy has sex with a 14 year old girl, he is arrested, charged, and convicted and nobody cares. Why are people so desperate to find homophobia in everything that they’ll even rush to the defense of a creep who pursues children for sex? We’ve really lost our damn minds in this country.
The outcry in support of this girl is stunning. Nobody complained about statutory rape laws until a photogenic white lesbian got burned by them. You know, you people in her corner are really lending credence to that “slippery slope” argument that you hate so much. Some “traditional” folks have often worried that our modern attitudes about sexuality would soon lead to people lobbying to end prohibitions against adult-children relationships. So, uh, I guess they were right then? I mean, that’s exactly what’s happening here. She’s a legal adult, she decided to get intimate with a child. Now we’re OK with that? Or are we only OK with it when it’s a woman and a girl? Or are we only OK with it if the victim’s parents are accused of being “anti-gay”? What are the new rules in this hedonistic looney bin we’re all living in?
When it comes to this case, I’ve actually seen people claim that Ms. Hunt shouldn’t be charged here because the 14 year old “acted older” and she “wanted it.” I’ve seen that. I’ve seen WOMEN write that. Disgraceful. These lunatics are so invested in their sexual identity politics that they’re suddenly seeing the logic in the quintessential argument made by every rapist since the beginning of time. And don’t tell me that 18 and 14 are “only 4 years apart.” Well, 14 and 9 are only five years apart, would you be cool with it if your high school freshman son started dating a 4th grader? The age gaps are less significant between adults. I know folks in their 30’s who are married to people 10 years older. That’s fine. There is nothing wrong with that. But there is something very wrong with a 10 year age gap if the younger one in the relationship is, say, 12. If you don’t understand why, please let me know so that I can stop associating myself with you. Creep.
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