California recently passed a law diminishing sex offender requirements for adults convicted of gay sex with minors. SB 145 was first introduced in 2019 by San Francisco’s State Senator Scott Wiener, cosponsored by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, and Equality California, was passed last week by the California legislature, and is now awaiting the governor’s signature.
Under the bill, adults who are convicted of having
sex with a minor of the same sex less than 10 years younger than they are would
not be automatically added to the sex offender registry. “Though minors cannot legally consent to sex
in California, the bill would allow a judge to decide whether or not to place
an adult on the sex offender registry if a teenager of the same sex between the
ages of 14 and 17 had sex with an adult.
Some argue that this is a step
toward less LGBTQ discrimination, while others claim this does not
legalize pedophilia in California.
What do you think?
Not all state reps are happy about this. Lorena Gonzalez, State Rep CA (D) said,
“I cannot in my mind as a mother understand how sex between a
24 year old and a 14 year old could ever be consensual, how it could ever not
be a registrable offense…. We should never give up on this idea that children
should be in no way subject to a predator.”
What might abused boy scouts say of this? The Boy Scouts of America has filed bankruptcy
because of sexual abuse claims against them by boys who were taken
advantage of sexually by scout leaders. What
might a 16 year old altar boy who was abused by a 26 year old priest say about
this?
These child victims might say that legal efforts to minimize or conceal the harm and abuse they’ve endured should be crushed.
Might this California law be another step down the
slippery slope to destigmatizing harm to children for the sake of adult sexual
autonomy?
Regent Law 2L Kalina Speaks, who interned as a summer Blackstone Fellow with Alliance Defending Freedom, recently researched this matter. She restates the issues in terms of a child’s legal incapacity to consent to sexual activity, in California, or anywhere in the United States. She notes,
"...when one report stated,
‘Contrary to false posts on social media, the
bill would not apply . . . when either party says the sex was not consensual,’ this
statement is concerning because the age of consent is still 18 in California –
therefore a child cannot consent. That report is claiming that adults will not
be required to register as sex offenders, regardless of the fact that they had
sex (of whatever kind, gay or straight) with a person who cannot consent in
California.
This was already a problem, as before this bill, if there was "voluntary" vaginal sex between a 14-17 year old and an adult, the adult perpetrator was not required to register unless the judge required it. This new bill expands that to oral and anal sex.
Sex with a child is always non-consensual. If California still has statutory rape laws on the books and the age of consent is still 18, how can there ever be "voluntary" sex of any kind with any child? How is this not a plain case of statutory rape, no matter who commits it (man to boy, woman to girl, man to girl, woman to boy)? And if it is statutory rape, how can there be a justification for not requiring these offenders to register?
While this law is certainly an attempt to stop discrimination
of LGBTQ+ individuals, in my view, it actually is weakening a child's recourse
against an offender. Especially if it now says that sex with a 14-17 year old
can be voluntary or consensual."
This new law that should concern all families. Children and their families deserve more
protection than they are now afforded in California.
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