(May 18, 2013 at 9:07 pm)Tiberius Wrote: The story: http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2013/05/flori...ationship/This is why in-principle I don't believe in age-of-consent laws. In Australia the parents can't just have the girlfriend/boyfriend charged and convicted. They can report it, sure, but unless the "victim" is willing to testify that they were raped, the charges will be dropped and nothing will come of it. The only real benefit to these laws is that it does make it easier to charge those who do the wrong thing - but it's by no means perfect.
What makes me annoyed isn't the fact that this girl is gay and is clearly being targeted for her sexual orientation, but that she could even be arrested in the first place.
Underage sex, or even underage relationships should not be a black and white issue, because they aren't always so simple. Yes, a 50 year old man having a relationship with an underage girl should be cause for both concern and for criminal action. However, when you have teenagers who are separated by only a few years, and the elder of the two becomes a legal adult, he/she should not be treated in the same way as the 50 year old would.
It should be common sense, but these laws aren't based on common sense at all. They are based on arbitrary age limits which should not be applied generally. It pisses me off to no end.
If you want to help out the girl in the article, there is a petition here: http://www.change.org/petitions/indian-r...lationship
However this kind of thing will only end when stupid laws are rewritten to account for what happens in reality.
For Religion & Health see:[/b][/size] Williams & Sternthal. (2007). Spirituality, religion and health: Evidence and research directions. Med. J. Aust., 186(10), S47-S50. -LINK
The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK
"That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke
The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK
"That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke
