Be honest, how many of you reading this column would have been charged with “lewd and lascivious battery on a child 12-16 years of age” when you were 18?
This is assuming of course that you got caught, and the state you lived in had such laws.
Gay sex, straight sex, touching, fondling, groping, licking, sucking – I’m talking sex of any kind. How many of you would right now be registered as a sex offender?
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Did you even know at age 18 that you couldn’t have sex or engage in any sort of sexual activity with anyone under the age of 18? Did you know you could go to jail for it? Did you know it was a felony? Did you know you were a sexual predator?
I only ask because this is what the State of Florida is calling 18 year-old Kaitlyn Hunt.
Kaitlyn Hunt was 18 and dating a 14 year-old girl. They were friends, they were both consenting, and they had sex – twice. From all accounts, the girls acted out of affection for one another and neither one were forced into any sort of act.
They are teenagers in love. How many of you remember those feeling?
The second of the sexual relations happened in January, and in February the younger girl’s parents brought her into the Office of the Sheriff to file a complaint against Kaitlyn Hunt. They had this young girl call Kaitlyn while a sheriff investigator monitored the call.
It’s obvious from the arrest record that they young girl was made to ask questions that would confirm that the two girls had sexual relations. It was also obvious that Kaitlyn cares deeply for this young girl as Kaitlyn told the girl during the phone call that she had never been in love with anybody else like her.
Kaitlyn was arrested the following day, and this whole thing just reeks of homophobia.
Had the younger girl’s parents truly been outraged, they would have ended any kind of relationship between the two girls long before Kaitlyn turned 18.
They would have forbidden their daughter to see her, be near her, or have any contact with her. Instead, they wait until six months after Kaitlyn turned 18, and have her arrested. This isn’t outrage – this is revenge – pure and simple.
This is punishment for Kaitlyn allegedly “making” their daughter gay.
And what of their own daughter?
What happens to her? Her name may not be all over the national news, but the kids in her school certainly know who she is. Life as she knew it is most certainly over because of her parent’s homophobia.
It’s pretty clear that her parents will never accept her for who she is, and it’s pretty clear what the road ahead is for her.
More pain, more hurt, more rejection from her parents.
Let’s be realistic — high School kids have sex. That’s just the way it is.
Is it okay for two 14, 15, 16 or 17-year-olds to have consensual sex? According to the law in Florida, yes it is. No one will get arrested or called a sexual predator or have to register as a sex offender.
Pregnant girls can roam the halls of their high schools, but Kaitlyn Hunt may go to jail.
The District Attorney has offered her a deal. Two years house arrest, and she would be allowed to attend school or work in that time, one year probation and she must attend sex offender counseling. A judge would decide whether or not Kaitlyn would have to register as a sex offender.
If she refuses the deal, she goes to trial and faces the possibility of a 15-year prison sentence.
Tell me, what would you do?
Sex and the teenage girl: The Kaitlyn Hunt tragedy