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Government considers watered down same-sex marriage bill to minimise Tory rebellion
123
Tory MP Nadine Dorries: 'The gay marriage bill is taking the sex out of marriage'
89
Government to consider abolishing civil partnerships or opening up to straight couples
68
Philip Hammond: 'No great demand for gay marriage and it's upsetting vast numbers of people'
68
Bret Easton Ellis slams GLAAD and says gay basketball player Jason Collins treated like a 'baby panda'
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London: Gay couple threatened with death in violent late night homophobic assault
65
US Radio host: Gay news websites are covered with porn that is turning teens gay
62
Lib Dem MP Sarah Teather tells Catholic newspaper 'I never went into politics to tackle equal marriage'
59
Tory MP David Burrowes: 'I'm not anti-gay; I'm just pro-marriage'
57
Christians called to pray at Parliament in opposition to equal marriage bill
56
Robert in S. Kensington 838
Eddy 364
Jock S. Trap 286
bobbleobble 259
D.McCabe 242
Rehan 212
rapture 196
Ray123 186
SteveC 173
Midnighter 167
I completely agree it was the right thing for him to by standing down. In the current social climate random sex is still “bad” whatever the gender of the parties involved.
But I have no idea what the counselling was for???
“A 56-year-old Minnesota Democrat who had a sexual encounter with a minor he met online has dropped his re-election bid.” OR
“He was not charged because the boy was over the legal age of consent, and no money was exchanged.”
Perhaps PN would like to tell us why both the above statements are included in the same story. Just exactly which is it. Very sloppy journalism to say the least…bordering on homophobia at most……
I was also puzzled about how a person over the age of consent could be described as a “minor”. The PN description gives the impression that the politician’s misdemeanour was far more serious than it actually was.
Isn’t a minor someone under the age of 18? I don’t think you can vote in the USA till you’re 18, and there are various other restrictions too.
It depends which state you are in, the age of consent varies from 16 to 18 across the USA. It is 16 in Minnesota. So a 17 year old would be perfectly legal to have consenting sex with.
The age of consent has nothing to do with whether you’re a minor or not – in the USA it’s if you’re under 18 (see below).
How is that homophobia??
This is not sloppy journalism. Both statements are true. The 17-year-old is a minor (though above the age of consent, which is 16) and the 56-year-old Democrat has dropped his re-election bid.
So if an 18yo political candidate did the same thing would they be expected to stand down?
Casual sex with a legal?
The emphasis is on ‘Legal’.
What exactly is a ‘Minor’ these days?
In the United States as of 1995, minor is legally defined as a person under the age of 18, although 21 with the context of alcohol (Wikipedia)
The USA is utterly and totally bonkers. Why all this outrage over a consensual sexual act with someone of an appropriate age. And counselling? Get a grip!
He wasn’t an adult he had sex with, so no it wasn’t ‘appropriate’
He was 17, which is legal. That is all that should count
it should be renamed as Re Erection bid
One wonders how many politicos applauding his decision to pull out (pun intended) simply do things more carefully with a rent-boy or call-girl in a motel. This has a strong whiff of hypocrisy about it.