129.2 - Update 1: Kaitlyn Hunt

Update 1: Kaitlyn Hunt

Time for some updates on things we have covered before.

Back in May I told you about the case of Kaitlyn Hunt, a then-18-year-old Florida girl charged with a string of felonies because, to put it simply, she'd had consensual sex with a 14-year-old classmate. The real problem being that the classmate was also a girl.

The younger girl's parents never went to Kaitlyn's folks, never approached them; instead they went to the school board looking to get Kaitlyn expelled and to the police to get her arrested, ultimately succeeding in both aims. As Kaitlyn's mother, Kelley Hunt-Smith, said in a statement, "They were out to destroy my daughter" because "[They] feel like my daughter 'made' their daughter gay."

Well, Kaitlyn has now accepted a deal under which she pleaded no contest to three misdemeanors and two felonies. She will spend four months in jail followed by two years of house arrest, followed by nine months of probation.

The case certainly brought out its share of Bible-thumping bizarros screaming that Kaitlyn Hunt is a "sexual predator." But many critics felt, as did I, as do I, that this case would never have gotten this far if Kaitlyn had been a boy. First, would the girl's parents - remember, this is in the absence of any sign of force or coercion or even deception - really have gone to the police without ever talking to that boy's parents?

Now, I expect both sets of parents might be interested in breaking up a relationship between an 18-year-old and a 14-year-old, but would that boy wind up facing literally decades in prison and a life-long label as a sex offender, as Kaitlyn Hunt did at one point? This case was about and is about homophobia, particularly the homophobia of the younger girl's parents.

In one of those "laugh so you don't cry" moments, those parents released a statement saying it was never their intent to harm Hunt. Right. You wanted her expelled and pressed felony charges against her - but you never meant to hurt her. Of course not.

In that same statement those parents claim that the case wasn't about gender or sexual orientation but about "age-appropriate relationships and following the rules and laws of our society."

Of course it was about gender. Of course it was about sexual orientation. Because if it was otherwise, if it really was about "age-appropriate relationships and the rules of our society," you would have enlisted the help of Kaitlyn's parents in ending the relationship rather than enlisting the help of the school board and prosecutors in seeking to destroy Kaitlyn Hunt's life.

You may not have succeeded in that: Under the deal, if there are no further violations on Kaitlyn's part the record can be expunged in 10 years. So you may not have destroyed her life but you surely have damaged it - and I for one do not believe for one second that destruction was not your intent.

Sources:
http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/kaitlyn_hunt_refuses_plea_offer_will_go_to_court_over_high_school_relationship/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/03/kaitlyn-hunt-plea-deal-jail-four-months_n_4036862.html
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/03/justice/florida-kaitlyn-hunt-plea-deal/index.html