http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,109938,00.html
Quote:
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.
|
Disclamer* I am not endorsing the actions of this young man. He had sex with a child under the age of 16 which is wrong. I am mearly asking if the double standard against gays is fair.
Personally I think that this is an unfair double standard. I think the fact that a 18 year old boy having sex with a 14 year old is wrong and I'd rather not hear the details of gay sex but to have seperate punishments because this was a gay act seems horribly wrong.