Unnatural Acts in Georgia

We’re going to investigate something that may cause your hair to stand up, so consider yourself cautioned:  It involves sexual acts.

At age 17, Wendy Whittaker, a high school sophomore, was caught performing oral sex on a 15 year old classmate.  In 1997 she pled guilty to sodomy and got five years’ probation.  Now, Wendy Whittaker is 28 years old and, since she pled guilty is a registered sex offender in Georgia.  Therefore, she cannot live within 1,000 feet of a place where children congregate, like a school or a church. 

Columbia County Sheriff Clay Whittle found Whittaker’s name was on the deed to her house and gave her and her husband 48 hours to move:  Her house is within 1,000 feet of a church. 

There is a Georgia Supreme Court ruling, S.B.1, that says residency rules for sex offenders cannot be enforced against offenders who bought homes before July 1, 2006.  Wendy Whittaker and her husband bought their place in 2007. Whittaker has filed a federal case and doesn’t have to move until the case is heard, so at least there is a stay while the wheels of justice grind along.  The Atlanta-Journal Constitution has the story here, if you want to follow a little more closely.

Let us deconstruct here: 

First off, how many of you can you tell the difference between a blow job and being butt buggered? 

Show of hands please?  Five, seventeen, forty four, seventy one…I thought so.  Most of you can tell the difference between the two acts.  (There is someone over there in the dark, near the exit who claims they can’t, but, is also offering to be a test subject for the weekend.  We’ll discount their opinion for the time being) 

Second, how many of you have engaged in an act of consensual oral intimacy?  Show of hands please? 

Oh, come on, don’t be such a prude, nobody can see you.  Don’t lie either.  Five, seventeen, forty four, seventy one, two-twenty…I thought so.  About the same as the general population. 

Technically, you have engaged in an Unnatural Act, which is punishable in several states of the US of A.  Georgia’s law recognizes sodomy as the sole Unnatural Act, therefore anyone charged with tasting the pudding is charged with sodomy.

Back to question #1, it is painfully obvious that the State of Georgia cannot tell the difference either.  That "painful" pun was intended by the way.

Some states are proposing what are called "Romeo and Juliet" exemptions to their sexual offender laws to remove those of a young age who have engaged in non-violent consensual (but still technically illegal) behaviours.  This only makes sense and do note the qualifiers:  Non-violent.  Consensual. 

A Romeo and Juliet law has nothing to do with rape, violence, sexual predators, child sexual abuse or the rest of the spectrum of sexual assault.  Even the dough-headed can tell the difference between the two ends of the argument.

Except the politicians in Georgia.  After all, you can’t make political hay by being sensible now can you?