A new state bill introduced by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, could possibly change the way young offenders, specifically those who identify as LGBT, are put on the state’s sex offender registry list, Wiener’s office announced Tuesday.
Currently, while consensual sex between 15- to 17-year-olds and a partner within 10 years of age is illegal, vaginal intercourse between the two does not require an offender to register as a sex offender. Other forms of intercourse such as oral and anal intercourse require sex offender registration.
That practice, according to Wiener, disproportionately targets young LGBT people, who usually cannot engage in vaginal intercourse.
Senate Bill 145 would put an end to “blatant discrimination against young LGBT people engaged in consensual activity,” Wiener said in a statement. Full Article
From the article comments, “The age of consent in California is 18. If two minors have sex, each is both perpetrator and victim. If it involves oral, anal or finger penetration, s.e.x offender registration is mandatory. Gender or sexual orientation are irrelevant.” I find it interesting no manual or motor driven intimacy aids (think for a moment there if you need) are listed here as against the law to use by those who are minors but standard human methods are. Why discriminate here? I digress.
So, can all CA minors be charged (or will be able to be charged) as perps and victims despite consensual actions such as a minor could possibly be for taking an inappropriate photo(s) of themselves and sending it, e.g. manufacturer/disto/victim of CP even if they consensually did it to themselves? Waiting for the first case to have a CA DA think on this like those in IA or NC have had to do with minors who have done this before. It is a shame when the actions of the minor(s) who consensually acted in such a manor is dismissed because they cannot think for themselves here, but can charge them as an adult when they commit murder for example.
This is actually important. In some states, a sodomy charge is considered a tier III offence, and requires lifetime registration.
Notice the good Senator isn’t all that concerned with the discrimination registrants face as a result of registration…
Regardless, the best way to end discrimination regarding registry laws is to abolish the registry. It serves no public safety or law enforcement purpose. And the ridiculously high costs of maintaining it as is pales in comparison to the costs of the updates and improvements that make no difference.
To treat everyone equally, end the registry completely.
Just let this paragraph sink-in:
“Currently, while consensual sex between 15- to 17-year-olds and a partner within 10 years of age is illegal, vaginal intercourse between the two does not require an offender to register as a sex offender. Other forms of intercourse such as oral and anal intercourse require sex offender registration.”
How disgusting of a society have we become in the USA that we dictate how BIOLOGY WORKS in endless laws like this?
“Sex is illegal in situation X while not in situation Y, but only if circumstance Z happens within AA time frame”.
Unbelievable that we live in a society like this.
Let’s not forget how the Static 99R discriminates against people with a male victim, which logically will mean a disproportionate amount of gay men will be harmed by this so-called test.
While this bill doesn’t solve the registry problem, at least it’s encouraging to see that there are people who are actually giving some “constructive thought” to the issue.
This guy is so stuck on LGBT community. While he has done a lot of good for us in some ways, he should be focusing on people in general not just classes of people.