It seems that Kansas does not tolerate gay behavior. Wonder how stealthy will feel about this?
Quote:
Fox News
Kansas Court Upholds Gay-Sex Law
Friday, January 30, 2004
TOPEKA, Kan. "” Kansas can punish someone more harshly for having sex with a minor if the minor is of the same sex, the state Court of Appeals ruled Friday.
A three-judge panel, splitting 2-1, rejected the appeal of Matthew R. Limon, sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for having sex with an underage boy in 2000.
Had Limon engaged in sex with an underage girl, he could have been sentenced to one year and three months in prison.
The American Civil Liberties Union (search), which represented Limon, and other gay rights activists had hoped the court would declare that the difference in sentencing represented unconstitutional discrimination against gays and lesbians.
Limon's conviction stems from acts with a 14-year-old boy. Both were residents of a Paola group home for the developmentally disabled. Limon was 18 at the time.
The Court of Appeals also rejected Limon's challenge in February 2002, but last June the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Texas law criminalizing gay sex and returned Limon's case to Kansas, resulting in the December rehearing before the appeals court.
Kansas law makes any sexual activity involving a person under 16 illegal, regardless of the context. The attorney general's office made much of Limon having two previous, similar offenses on his record, suggesting they helped justify his lengthy sentence.
Limon could have received a much lighter sentence had he or the 14-year-old boy, identified only as M.A.R, been female because a 1999 statute, known as the "Romeo and Juliet" law (search), provides lesser penalties for consensual sex when one partner is 19 or under and the other partner's age is within four years.
Cal-Hunter - What do you know about this case ? My initial reaction is why is there a difference and what are we not hearing about this that might make the courts rule as they did ? I'm suspicious that theres much more involved than what this article indicates - in other words, its not cut and dried, black and white.
OK, now a lesbian has sex with a 14 year old girl? How does this logic apply?
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Now you have to picture a combination of PeeWEE Herman and Wally Cox but with less muscle tone, trying to be intimidating None of this is funny! Message edited by Cougar Mag -- 1/7/2005 1:16:42 AM >/b]
Seems Kansas agrees that the circumstances surrounding the wrongful act DOES have an impact on sexual assault cases.
I would also add that to single out same sex cases and add another 16-17 years for it doesn't seem right to me. Substitue a 15 year old girl scout in this case and you'd see a guy getting 14 months in prison, NOT 17 years.
In a world where homosexuality is accepted, condoned, on TV, in the movies, in magazines, on stage, in schools, in business, etc etc .... how can Kansas do this ? If homosexual acts are wrong, call it across the board instead of just in rare cases.
I'll look more into this, but it appears that they were both mental patients, Limon a bit over 18, the other almost 15. Also Limon had a history of similar offenses ??
Theres a lot to this case... and its not over yet. If he did the crime, do the time, but I do think the "Romeo and Juliet" clause should have been invoked like it was designed to do, regardless if it was same sex or not
Stealthycat Gay Law
