We've covered a lot about California State Sen. Scott Wiener. He's all about lowering the age of consent; after all, man/boy relationships are a thing in the gay community and it would be bad to criminalize them.
So it's not surprising we're back in California arguing about an act concerning solicitation of a minor. SB1414 reads:
Existing law requires persons convicted of certain specified crimes to annually register as a sex offender, as specified, for a term of 10, 20, or 30 years.
This bill would require a person who is 18 years of age or older, on or after January 1, 2025, is convicted of, and who has a prior conviction for, soliciting a minor, as specified, to annually register as a sex offender for a term of 10 years if, at the time of the offense, the person was more than 10 years older than the solicited minor.
Sounds good to us, right? But going by Wiener logic, soliciting a minor more than 10 years younger than yourself is an LGBTQ thing, and activists are arguing against the bill saying it would unfairly target the LGBTQ community.
Cardinal Pritchard writes for Not the Bee:
In California, it is currently a misdemeanor to solicit a minor for sex. SB1414 aims to make this offense a felony. And wouldn't you know, the one group coming out against this bill is the people over at the LGBTQIA+ club.
I'm not joking. They're coming out against an anti-pedophile bill.
Here's the argument, if you couldn't stomach the video:
We're particularly concerned that the harsher penalties proposed in this bill will disproportionately impact marginalized communities, especially members of the LGBTQ community, who already suffer from systematic biases within the criminal justice system, particularly when it comes to sexually-based offenses. Studies have shown that LGBTQ people, particularly gay and transgender individuals, are more likely to be charged with sex offenses compared to their heterosexual counterparts.
Which "studies," funded by whom? This act applies equally to the straight community. But activists argue it will be enforced unfairly.
Because the police and district attorneys are homophobic as well as racist and deliberately target the LGBTQ community.