UPDATE: Kaitlyn Hunt Won't Take A Plea

Last week I posted about Kaitlyn Hunt, the Florida high school senior who was arrested and then expelled from school for being in a lesbian relationship with a high school freshman. Kaitlyn Hunt was charged with two felony counts of lewd and lascivious battery on a child and could face up to fifteen years in jail and be labeled a sexual predator for life. [see post HERE]

Now, I got a couple of comments that this wasn’t about Kaitlyn being gay, even though the other girl’s parents were completely against the relationship. And, of course, they waited until about a minute after Kaitlyn turned eighteen to file charges against her. I cannot help but think that if Kaitlyn Hunt had been an eighteen-year-old boy, and star basketball player, those parents would have reacted differently.

But I digress. This isn’t about the parents of the other girl, or straight relationships versus gay relationships, it's about ruining a young girl’s life because she fell in love with one of her teammates on the basketball team.

Kaitlyn Hunt was offered a plea deal in the case, in which she would face two years of house arrest and a year of probation, and her ‘crime’ would stay on her permanent adult record. Kaitlyn Hunt said, ‘No.’

Julia Graves, the attorney for the Hunt family:

"Our client is a courageous teenager who is choosing not to accept the current plea offer by the state of Florida. It’s a situation of two teenagers who happen to be of the same sex involved in a relationship. If this case involved a boy and a girl, we don't believe there'd be the media attention to this case. Our client's a model citizen. She's been placed in an environment of school with her classmates where they go to school together, they have lunch together, and play on the same team (and are) allowed to have communication and contact without barriers. Then when something develops between the two of them as a result of this environment which is created by the state, it leads to criminal prosecution."

Charles Sullivan, who's representing the as-yet-unnamed family of the other teen, says his clients won’t comment yet, and he said he believed the plea deal was a reasonable one and was surprised Hunt didn't take it.

Reasonable for a high school, student who fell in love with another student to accept being labeled a predator for life?

As I said, had this been a straight relationship, I doubt it would be national news. I doubt the other girl’s parents would have filed charges. I doubt the boy would face being labeled a pedophile.

You can say this case has nothing to do with the other girl’s parents’ homophobia, but it reeks of discrimination and bigotry and hate, to me. Now, to be clear, if Kaitlyn Hunt wasn’t a high school student when she began her relationship with the girl, then, yes, she should be punished. But the fact is that, like any number of us, gay and straight, these two girls became friends, fell in love, and started a relationship while they were both high school students and one should not be punished for that.

I hope Kaitlyn sticks to her guns and fights this all the way to the end. She was a high school girl who fell in love with another student and anyone who thinks that makes her a predator or a pedophile just isn’t thinking clearly. 

Head on over to Free Kate, read her story, and add your name to Kate's 296,450 supporters.

source