Girls could be banned from giving and receiving oral sex as part of a new bill that’s currently being considered by the state of Virginia Legislature.
The bill, which has been proposed by Republican Senator Thomas Garrett would make it a felony for a minor to carnally know ’any male or female person by the anus or by or with the mouth’. The bill, known as the ‘Crimes Against Nature’ law, also warns against bestiality, just FYI.
The law was originally rejectedby the United States court of Appeal because it violates the 14th Amendment, which guarantees the rights of due process and equal protection (ya’think?), so Garrett is attempting to get around this by restricting the bill to minors only.
This is where it gets really stupid. The age of consent (for vaginal sex) in Virginia is 15, and it’s a misdemeanor for an adult to have sex with a minor. But two teens aged 15-17 can have vaginal sex with each other. This means if the bill is passed, it will be more criminal to have vaginal sex with someone aged 15-17 than to have oral sex with them. It also means two teens aged between 15-17 are allowed to have vaginal sex together, but not oral or anal sex. Hetrosexual couples in Virginia are allowed to get married aged 16, but it would still be illegal for them to have oral, or anal sex before they turned 18.
Still following this? Good…
Criticism of this clearly idiotic law has ranged from the fact that the bill could encourage girls to choose vaginal over oral sex, with all the accompanied risks of pregnancy and heightened risk of infection that come with it, to claims that the bill is, in essence, homophobic: Claire Guthrie Gastañaga, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union says, ‘Oppose it [the bill], unequivocally, because it leaves in place discriminatory treatment and doesn’t address the underlying problem that LGBT people are treated differently than folks that have other kinds of sex.’
Confusingly, Senator Garrett has claimed that the aim of the bill was not to prevent teenagers from having oral sex, but to bring Virginia’s anti-sodomy laws in line with the constitution ‘while still protecting Virginia children from child predators’, but legal experts have since pointed out that if that were the case, then Garrett would have been better off drafting a law against predators, rather than specific sexual acts.
So far, Garrett is the only patron of the bill, which was passed last Wednesday. In an email to the Huffington Post regarding criticism he has received, he said, ‘Our office has been inundated with extremely unsavory telephone calls and emails. For the record, I have heard the concerns and have started to draft an amendment to my bill that will deal with the unintended consequences of a bill that is nothing but well-intended.’
Photograph: Getty
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.