I'm confused.
In Florida, an eighteen-year-old high school student is charged with two felonies for having a sexual relationship with a fourteen-year-old. Both claim it was a consensual relationship, despite the fact that Florida law says children fourteen and under cannot consent to sexual activity.
We've all heard of cases like this before. Perhaps some of us in our wild youth even worried a bit about the statutory requirements when we wanted to date someone younger. I seem to recall learning the phrase, "age of consent" when I was about seventeen or so.
While it seems clear that what happened in Florida was a violation of law, and no one should be surprised that a prosecutor filed the heavy charges, what has me wondering is the fact that thousands of people have either joined a Facebook page, or signed a Change.org petition, asking the State Attorney to drop the charges.The term "gay bashing" has been thrown around quite a bit and the GLBT community and the ACLU have also come on board.
But does the fact that defendant and victim are both girls really matter? It doesn't to me. Sure, it's heart wrenching to see the very innocent looking eighteen-year-old sobbing in front of news cameras and worrying that her life is ruined...but she undoubtedly knew the consequences of her actions. And, she yesterday turned down a plea agreement that would have, the prosecutor says, eventually left her with only a misdemeanor conviction on her record.
She broke the law. Whatever the motivations of the parents of the younger girl in bringing the case to law-enforcement, they and the state have the statutes on their side. As the sheriff who investigated the complaint points out, had this been a case of boyfriend/girlfriend, it wouldn't have gotten near the attention.
So why all the noise? Why are so many people ready to turn this into a matter of sex...when what it really is...is a matter of law?
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