Yeah!

Justices Void Prison Term Given Gay Teenager in Kansas

The court's directive today that the Kansas courts reconsider the Limon case with Lawrence v. Texas in mind was tantamount to an instruction to set aside the prison term imposed on Mr. Limon, and perhaps to take a close look at what has been called the state's "Romeo and Juliet Law."

The statute gained that nickname in some legal circles because it regards oral sex differently when it involves heterosexual teenage couples, as opposed to youths of the same sex.

When one member of the couple is aged 14 to 16 and the other is older, the act is statutory rape under the Kansas law and the most common penalty is probation if the two are heterosexual. But probation is not available to same-sex teenage couples.

And that's discrimination, kids. Whether you want to argue that oral sex is statutory rape or not, punishing mixed-gender couples differently than same-gender couples is wrong, wrong, wrong.

Matthew Limon was just barely 18 when he had oral sex with someone who, bluntly, wasn't. Had that someone been a girl, he would have faced maybe a 15-month sentence, maybe just probation. The same act with another boy? 17 years.

17 years.

Wrong, wrong, wrong,wrong, wrong.