Did you leap to that assumption all on your own, or did you just decide to adopt KTF40's assumption? As I've already addressed him on the subject, I hope you won't mind if I just cut and paste a portion of that response here, as it applies equally well to you. It still required more effort than you took reaching that false assumption.Now... To Maxcock: Consider this. When I was 19, my boyfriend was 17. Was that wrong? The age of consent in the state I was living at the time was 18, and it was pre-Lawrence. I had been dating him since I was 17 and he was 16, about a year and a half. We met on a University campus where I was attending school. At the time I thought he was a student too, not just visiting a friend. Granted, it's not the age difference the OP was facing, but it's still something that by your posts it seems you'd demonize as "pervy."
As a matter of fact, you're dead wrong. I have long believed that it was ridiculous to assign an arbitrary line for sexual majority that under no circumstances must be crossed. If the age of consent is 18 for example, it makes no sense that a 17yo guy involved with a 16yo girl suddenly becomes a statutory rapist or sex offender on his 18th birthday. In recent years more and more states have adopted so-called 'Romeo and Juliet' rules regarding the age of consent, where a difference of 2 or 3 years makes the line irrelevant. That makes perfect sense to me, but it's very different from what you've described -- wanting to fuck 14yo girls as a 22-23yo man.
Already addressed KTF40 on this too, so again, slightly edited cut and paste response for you:Also, being gay is not illegal now. As you stated, Lawrence v. Texas ended that. DADT, while still abhorrent, pertains to a voluntary entity in our society. Talk to me again if the draft it reinstated.
Concerning the rest of your post where you describe your experiences as a minor having sex with older men --Why don't you ask the 13,000 proud servicemembers who have been discharged under DADT since it was enacted in '94, and stripped of their honor, their livelihood and their careers, whether there are any laws against being gay in America? Did they cease to be Americans when they entered the service? Many of them were already in the military before the policy went into effect, and many tens of thousands more were dishonorably discharged in the years before the policy. Why don't you ask the tens of thousands of other gay servicemembers trying to serve their country with honor and distinction in a war zone, while they have to worry every day about that Sword of Damocles hanging over their head?
Also, I was pointing out that up until seven years ago there were many places in the country where gay sex was illegal, though most people probably assumed otherwise. Whether it's illegal now is beside the main point, as we were discussing the wider context of societal pressure, social norms and taboos within which these laws are enacted. Believe me, there are still many rural places, small towns, even places in big cities and in the workplace where these societal pressures still exist. So in those places it may as well be illegal, inasmuch as people have to hide their orientation for fear of persecution or violence. Changing the law does not erase discrimination, nor does it remove the pressure put on people in these environments.
I have friends who had the exact same experience and were none the worse for it. I don't think what you did at that stage of emotional development was "wrong". That does not change the fact that regardless of whether you wanted it, regardless of whether you seduced them, regardless of whether you enjoyed it, what they did was wrong. The responsibility and the legal culpability lies with the adult in these situations. Regardless of his/her motivations and desires, we can never assume a minor is mentally and emotionally mature enough to make these decisions free of manipulation and exploitation by adults. That, in essence, is why it is wrong.
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