CA governor signs law to equalize punishments for gay & straight sex offenders

California Governor Gavin Newsom
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed into law a bill that makes the punishment for certain sex crimes the same for queer and straight offenders – and resulted in an out state senator getting death threats.

Introduced by gay State Sen. Scott Wiener (D), the law gives judges the ability to keep LGBTQ teenagers off the state’s public sex offender registry if the teens are of similar ages, the same leeway the state already gives straight teens.

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Currently, it’s illegal in California for people above the age of 18 to have sex with anyone under the age of 18. The new law doesn’t change that.

“It’s appalling that in 2020, California continues to discriminate against LGBTQ people, by mandating that LGBTQ young people be placed on the sex offender registry in situations where straight people aren’t required to be placed on the registry,” Wiener said at the signing ceremony.

“SB 145 simply ends that discrimination by treating LGBTQ young people the exact same way that straight young people have been treated since 1944.”

Right-wing media and politicians, however, have portrayed the new law as an attempt to legalize adult sex with minors despite numerous debunkings….

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