Laws against underage sex need to have more realistic exemptions.

[Tiberius]

it's different in every country........ and in the US it even varies by state....... if you were too argue that the length at which the two teens were born should be widened or that parents shouldn't be allowed to control who their minor has sex with (in this case someone who is older than them) that would be fine but you approached this argument as if 2 17 year olds were in a consentual sexual relationship and the minute/second one turned 18 the parents filed charges against the older one and you implied it was because they simply homosexual...therefore you are wrong.....

1) I didn't approach this as if it were 2 17 year olds at all. I challenge you to find any quote of mine which suggests that...
2) Neither did I approach it as if the parents filed charges against her once she turned 18. In fact, I think I made clear that the charges appeared several months after she turned 18.
3) Neither did I imply that this was all because they were homosexual. I said she was clearly being targeted because of her sexual orientation, due to statements by her mother, and the fact that she was in this relationship for a while. This wasn't just some random 18 year old having sexy with a 14 year old; the two were in a relationship and had been for some time.

On (2), the fact of the matter is, a parent could quite easily do this at any time. If a 17 year old dates a 16 year old, and the 17 year old turns 18, what is to stop the parents from filing charges of lewd behaviour against the 18 year old? The fact that there were in a relationship seems to become irrelevant to the law, which it shouldn't be.

suggesting a court judgement should be based on love is insane........

Erm, I never suggested that. I said there were multiple factors other than age that should be considered.

legally a 17 year old can have sex with a 13 year old so maybe the age limit should be lengthened too 48 months??? i'll sign that petition.....

Again, I fail to see what lengthening the age limit does to help. The problem is that an 18 year old is automatically treated like an adult, despite the fact that some 18 year olds are still in school, and could be in relationships with people a few years younger than them.

but regardless these two committed a crime

Right, and my argument is, it shouldn't be a crime.

i fully support marijuana legalization but i am not about to stage a protest over someone who was arrested for smoking/dealing pot..... similarly i am not in favor of abolishing age limits concerning sex....changin those limits too 48 months is another matter.....

I'm not staging a protest either. I'm saying laws like this need to change, because they are abused to target the wrong people. I'm not necessarily saying we should abolish age limits entirely; certainly a 50 year old should not date a 13 year old, for instance. However, when you are in your teenage years, things are different; teenagers will always date across school years, and it isn't fair to punish the older one because they are technically dating a minor.

It was a 14-year-old. Check the article, it says it was updated to correct the age.

Thanks for the update. I note it also now says she was 17 when they started dating, which could be a 3 year age difference. I still think it's an acceptable relationship, given the circumstances. It should also be noted that doing an age difference based on year alone is silly. If the girl has only just turned 14, then yes, that would be a 4 year age gap. If she's turning 15 in a short while, the age gap is much closer to 3 years.