Left off the sex offender registry

WARNING: This article discusses child sexual abuse.

The state of California could lower the penalties for an adult who commits certain sex acts with a teenager if Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill passed in the state legislature last week. The proposal would give a judge discretion over whether to add some people convicted of statutory rape to the sex offender registry.

Senate Bill 145 sparked immediate outrage and concern. Social media posts declaring California had legalized pedophilia garnered thousands of views. One post inaccurately claimed a 21-year-old could have sex with an 11-year-old without landing on the state’s sex offender list.

Critics say the bill will leave children unprotected and open the door for judges to make unwarranted exceptions for sex acts between adults and minors.

“I cannot in my mind as a mother understand how sex between a 24-year-old and a 14-year-old could ever be consensual, how it could ever not be a registerable offense,” said state Rep. Lorena Gonzalez, a Democrat and chairwoman of the California Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Under California law, anyone under the age of 18 may not legally consent to sex. If an adult is convicted of having heterosexual intercourse with a minor 14 or older and the adult is within 10 years of the child’s age, a judge has the discretion over whether the perpetrator must register as a sex offender. However, certain sex acts other than intercourse between the same minor and adult would require automatic inclusion on the registry. SB 145 would eliminate that discrepancy and give the judge sway over all sex offender registrations in such cases.

The bill’s author, state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat and an openly homosexual man representing San Francisco, argues the law should treat all forms of sex equally. His spokeswoman, Catie Stewart, said Wiener intended the bill to decriminalize a hypothetical sexual relationship between a 17-year-old and a 20-year-old, not to promote pedophilia: “Those are the situations where the judge will use discretion.”

Since introducing the measure, Wiener has received “hundreds, if not thousands” of death threats from QAnon followers, according to Stewart. One of the conspiracy theories of the cultish internet phenomenon claims many Hollywood celebrities engage in child sexual abuse, and they cite this bill as evidence of their efforts to legalize the practice.

If enacted, the bill would overturn a 2015 California Supreme Court ruling that upheld a long-standing legal separation between heterosexual intercourse and other sex acts. The court ruled that since only one sex act can result in a pregnancy, it is not discriminatory to treat those offenses differently—such as allowing a father an exemption from the sex offender list to improve his chances of getting a job to provide for his family.

Patrick Trueman, president and CEO of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, argues that the bill would further protect adult offenders, not minors.

“If the concern is a one-year difference between an 18-year-old and a minor about to become an adult, then the law should be confined to that situation, not the extreme situation that the 10-year window provides,” he said.

Samuel Dordulian, a civil attorney in Glendale, Calif., relies on the sex offender registry as a tool to track and eventually sue abusers on behalf of victims. If convicted offenders violate legal restrictions or fail to re-register, police have grounds to arrest them. The list can help get sex offenders off the streets in instances where one of his or her victims is afraid to file direct charges against them.

“We’ve made slow progress toward helping victims to come forward,” Dordulian said. “SB 145 is not going to help that process. … At the end of the day, there will be more child molesters on the street if this passes.”

Demanding diversity

Corporations in California may have to diversify their board membership if a new law goes into effect, a move critics say is unconstitutional. The state legislature sent Assembly Bill 979 to Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, to sign or veto this month.

The law would require boards of public companies headquartered in the state to have at least one self-identified racial minority or LGBT member by the end of 2021. The following year, that number would go up to two or three minority members depending on the size of a company’s board. Corporations could face $100,000 in fines for refusing to comply.

Shareholders generally elect board members based on financial literacy, industry experience or connections, a lack of financial conflicts of interest, and other qualifications. Corporate attorney Keith Bishop, a former commissioner with the California Department of Corporations, testified that the bill violates the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clauses and commerce clause. It may even raise First Amendment questions by forcing people to disclose their race and sexuality. Bishop added that the law could lead to boards giving preference to transgender women over women and minority females over minority males instead of selecting members based on qualifications.

Pacific Legal Foundation and Judicial Watch are challenging a similar 2018 California law in court that instituted a quota for female board members. —Julia A. Seymour

Standing firm

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling returned a prestigious human rights award for charity work after the presenting organization blasted her views on biological sex and gender dysphoria. Though Rowling says transgender individuals should have the freedom to live as they wish, she has argued that erasing the concepts of biological manhood and womanhood harms women.

Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights honored Rowling with its Ripple of Hope Award in December 2019. Last month, organization President Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and niece of former President John F. Kennedy, called Rowling’s comments on sex and gender identity “transphobic,” “degrading,” and “inconsistent with the fundamental beliefs and values of RFK Human Rights and … a repudiation of my father’s vision.”

After the public tongue-lashing, Rowling said she felt obligated to return the award and continue following her conscience. She said thousands of people—including transgender individuals—have sent her supportive emails since she spoke out. Doctors, teachers, scholars, and people who are no longer transgender shared their concerns that trans-affirming practices harm adolescents and lead to the loss of protections for vulnerable women.

“[Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights] has stated that there is no conflict between the current radical trans rights movement and the rights of women,” Rowling said. “The thousands of women who’ve got in touch with me disagree, and, like me, believe this clash of rights can only be resolved if more nuance is permitted in the debate.” —J.A.S.

Record-setting marriage

Julio Cesar Mora Tapia and Waldramina Maclovia Quinteros Reyes together are nearly 215 years old. At ages 110 and 104, respectively, Guinness World Records certified the Quito, Ecuador, couple as the oldest married pair last month. The pair married in a Quito church in 1941, seven years after they met. They had five children and numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren.

The secret to a long and happy marriage? “Family unity under the rules of love, mutual respect, honest work, and proper education based on family values,” the couple told Guinness.

Both are generally active and in good health, but the coronavirus pandemic has forced them to spend less time with their family members.

“They have been different, more downcast because they miss large family gatherings,” their daughter Cecilia said. “Since March, we have not had any of that.” —J.A.S.