I am not sure whether many had heard this story outside of Florida, but back in February, Kaitlyn Hunt, an 18-year-old high school student was expelled due to her relationship with a 14 year old classmate (who happened to be a girl). She was also charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious battery of a child 12 to 16 years of age as a result of the relationship.
Just so we are all straight, an 18 year old adult was in a relationship with a 14 year old child and is now in jail.
AS SHE SHOULD BE.
Now months later people (a lot of people) are actually trying to condone her actions. Not only condone them but champion them, there are petitions signed asking her to be freed, hacker groups threatening e-anarchy, and even celebrities are jumping on the bandwagon.
As a lesbian, a feminist, and a future mother of children, that is just this side of crazy. This is not a complicated LGBT issue, on the contrary it is very simple. An 18 year old adult was in a relationship with a 14 year old child and is now in jail.
AS SHE SHOULD BE.
If the courts dared to give her a pass, how many other children would be left vulnerable as a result. If we say that this child was able to have consensual sex with an adult at 14, how do we protect other 14 year olds or 13 year olds? Where do we draw the line?
Being a woman and being a lesbian doesn’t make Kaitlyn less accountable to the law. She chose to pursue a relationship with this girl. She chose to sleep with this girl against her parents’ wishes. So now she should have a new choice to make… whether to get a honey bun or ramen noodles from the commissary.
Hello 40s (formerly the Kword) 
I agree with you. I support gay rights, as i am a lesbian myself, but this should not be a right. We have more pressing issues to deal with a lgbt community.
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Can you believe the ACLU is actually condemning her prosecution. That is freaking CRAZY! They had the nerve to say,
“”While effective laws are certainly needed to protect Florida’s children from sexual predators, one cannot seriously maintain that Kaitlyn’s behavior was predatory.”
I can not… I can not.
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Reblogged this on Okazaki Fragments and commented:
The attention this case is getting makes me angry – and scared. I already have to deal with being called a sexual predator, or being compared on a moral level to a sexual predator, all the time. Thanks for making the religious right that much more paranoid about gays coming for their children, internet jerks.
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Did you read the post? Have you looked into the case? If so why would you be either angry or scared?
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you’re an idiot kristi k
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Very well written. I recently wrote about this case involving Kaitlyn Hunt and how the gay community has embraced this case. As a gay man, I think we should be steering clear of getting associated with Kaitlyn Hunt. It’s already starting to set the gay community back with how some conservatives are running around saying we are embracing sex offenders.
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Thank you for the comment. It becomes a situation where people are over using the “pink card” and it is damaging our real goals. We have seen similar things happen with the use of the “race card”. We as a group have to know when to draw the line.
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While hardly to be advised or condoned, teen sex happens for all the reasons we know it happens, and while the age of majority may be 18, we also know that there are exceptions made where they are practical and necessary (the drinking age for example). Maturity doesn’t happen overnight, and clearly 18 year olds differ quite a bit from adults even just a few years older when it comes to judgment and understanding. Does this mean no consequences for Kaitlyn Hunt or older teen boys in the same situation, or more precisely, older teen girls (in heterosexual relationships with younger teen boys)? No, but wise and compassionate justice would recommend a misdemeanor rather than a felony in most cases–and a penalty that would discourage the behavior (and parents not minding their teen offspring) while not destroying futures for irresponsible though not unexpected lapses. Nearly all states (including Florida) have “Romeo and Juliet” provisions that address the fact that “adult” teens can’t always be expected to exercise adult judgment when it comes to sex. The question is really more one of specifics than philosophy, as the penalties and age gaps vary considerably from state to state–and in many states Hunt’s actions wouldn’t have provoked such potentially harsh penalties. Obviously Florida’s law is what it is, but that doesn’t mean it is as it should be, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see both a change in the law and some kind of nullification that addresses the Hunt situation when the legal proceedings are over.
As to the fairness of Hunt’s prosecution, it is at best naive and at worst mendacious to claim that Hunt’s arrest and prosecution reflect “gender neutral” or non-discriminatory practice. We all know that there is wide discretion for police and prosecutors with respect to if and how to take action in response to a possible crime, particularly one of this nature. Teen sex is (fortunately) not a sphere in which the police operate with much interest or diligence, preferring others to handle issues that arise. So her case is more the exception than the rule, particularly with Hunt as a female offender. However, when the authorities do get involved there is an obligation to avoid bias with respect to minorities. Straight black males have received unduly vigorous and harsh “justice” for similar infractions. Such individuals fit certain [southern] stereotypes, whether they deserve them or not.
As for lurid and snide descriptions of fingering and bathroom stalls to suggest something more aggravated, what teen sex couldn’t be framed in similarly lurid terms? The truth is that there is little here that is aggravating, no violence, no coercion, no pattern of behavior with others etc. The only reason for legal proceedings is that the younger girl’s parents (understandably upset) were so vigorous in pursuing the matter formally (with the school and with the police). While I understand their reaction, a wiser response from the authorities could have dealt with their concerns, stopped and even punished the behavior and all without the growing circus we now have on our hands.
While those who defend Hunt do so for a number of reasons, including possible orientation bias, the real issue is really much simpler. The reflexive reaction to what is happening in this case (favorable media spin and the public rallying on her behalf) is more a response to disproportionate justice not a suggestion that her acts were acceptable. This is why the ultimate result is likely to be leniency in spite of the way the law is written. It will be a politically satisfying result to both Hunt’s supporters and the government entities involved (and under siege for well intentioned but poorly codified regulation of teen sex), who I’m sure wish this would all go away.
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Thank you for commenting and I definitely appreciate your thoughts. When it comes to the merits of the law I do fundamentally agree. I think my issue was the use of her being a lesbian as being enough to excuse her behavior. I think it does more disservice to the lesbian community as a whole than as an aid to her singularly.
I just don’t want it to bite us in the end, which I believe it is starting to do.
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Thank you for responding to my comment. I understand your viewpoint, and agree with you that she shouldn’t exploit orientation as an excuse for poor judgment on her part. There’s certainly more to all this than anyone can get from the internet, and it sounds like her family situation may be complicated, and while they may have felt backed into a corner, they are trying to game the media to their advantage. Maybe they didn’t have much of a choice. For me it’s more the general case; I just think teenagers should get a little more compassion from the system for crimes like this (not the same as getting away with wrongdoing). We already have prisons full of people whose lives are basically ruined, and have almost no chance to do anything once they get out but more of what got them there in the first place or worse. I also think there’s little chance of Hunt becoming a serial pedophile. She’s no Jerry Sandusky, and while I try to be gender neutral in my thinking, I think that kind of behavior is definitely less of a threat from women, if history and statistics mean anything.
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Gay, Straight, Bi, Green, Blurple, Tranny, Illegal Alien, Fish or flippin’ Chicken. You are eighteen and you are involved in a sexual relationship with a fourteen year old, you’re right to be put away especially when you don’t even follow the rules of your pre-trial release. If you had kept still in the first place you wouldn’t be in the situation you’re in, as I say ‘Quien te focking manda’ (and who told you to?) Just because you’re female doesn’t mean you get a pass on being a sex offender, sure you didn’t rape the girl but you know what under the law you did and being a woman doesn’t negate that. There are PLENTY of guys who have been in the same predicament and now because they just couldn’t say no to some 14 year old poon or they pissed of the wrong girl (or guy’s) parents they now have to register as a sex offender as well they should. Nobody is worth your freedom and you knew what you were doing so don’t act brand new you did what you wanted to do in spite of the consequences and for that you go to jail because you broke the law. She should go away and she should have to register as an offender because like I said UNDER THE LAW she is and had she been a guy this wouldn’t even have made it to Facebook much less the news. She was wrong, bottom line and being gay or a woman doesn’t change that.
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Sex is sex. Get over it.
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Don’t know much about the case….but imagin,e if you will, a 14 year old and a 17 year old who are dating and sexually active….for months.
The the 17 year old turns 18…………and it’s now illegal.
weird.
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From what I understand she was 18 before they stared sleeping together.
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