Free Kate

Have you heard about this horrendous injustice wrought in Florida? Apparently Kaitlyn Hunt is an 18-year-old high school cheerleader who was charged with having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old high school classmate (female). She has been expelled for the behavior and is facing two counts in Florida of "lewd and lascivious battery on a child 12 to 16."

Can you imagine? What's wrong with these people in Florida? Apparently they're just haters. On their support website to "Free Kate" (to which I won't link as a courtesy) commenters are saying encouraging things like, "high school romance, and nothing more", "Its [sic] sad that this is what our world has come to." and "It might be time to ... hunt the religious extremists." Nice.

So, we've come to this. Morality is determined by "What I want to do" and not much else. The law is irrelevant. Age is not a factor. Gender may be a factor if a male is involved, I suppose, but if it is two girls involved in a case of "lewd and lascivious battery on a child", it ought to be legal and, hey, while we're at it, endorsed! Embrace grace, man! Embrace love! (Well, I suppose if we're talking about consensual sexual relations between a 40-year-old male and a 12-year-old male, that has to still be wrong, right? On what basis I'm not entirely sure, but, it is, isn't it?) Whatever the case, it's not about law and it's not about morality and it's not about right or wrong. We've arrived at the purest of dichotomies where we love and abhor the law. We love it when it gives us what we want (like "equal protection") and hate it when we don't (like "license for statutory rape"). And the primary method of getting what you want is to call those who refuse you "haters", "homophobes", or even (cover your ears, Mom) rightwing fundamentalist Christians. Now those ought to be shot.