Newspapers Get Letters Confusing Consanguinamory With Abuse

Steve Casey of Stonewall wrote in to dailycomet.com very concerned that other people might have relationships or sex.

On Dec. 21, I heard a radio speaker tell about a recent debate in which he had been invited to participate.

The subject of debate was the new hot topic in the changing of American moral values. There were five people in the debate, and the speaker I was hearing was the only one standing for traditional values while the other four were on the side of change and the acceptance of “new standards.”

The new hot topic was: “Should consensual adult incest be legalized?”

Sounds like he's referring to this.

A few years ago, in my annual practice of reading through the Bible, I noted all scriptures that refer to human sexuality.

Irrelevant to secular law. But I do wonder if he noticed this?

If consensual incest between adults becomes acceptable it will increase incest involving all ages.

And the proof of this is? Is...? Oh, right, there is none. Adults have all sorts of rights, entitlements, and responsibilities that minors do not have, just as minors have all sorts of rights, entitlements, and protections that adults do not have. We can't deny adults their rights because of some imagined effect on the behavior of children. It's the same argument often used against erotica ("But what if the children get a hold of it?")

Recently, my wife participated in local grand jury hearings. The hearings were to determine whether or not there was enough evidence to bring the cases to trial. All of the cases involved adult molestation of juveniles. Some involved incest.

Notice how he switched from talking about consenting adults to adults assaulting minors.

Since he brought it up, I'll point out just one way how continued criminalization of consanguinamory can actually hurt children. Let's say the main witness to abuse of the child is, herself, in a consensual relationship with her long lost half brother. The abuser and the abuser's attorney can use the fact that her relationship is illegal to prevent her from cooperating with police (she may already be reluctant to) or to attack her in court and the media. However, if we decriminalize adult relationships, she would be much more likely to speak out, file a police report, and testify effectively against the abuser.

Acceptable incest would lead to the total destruction of the family.

An assertion with nothing backing it up. This blog has documented the opposite, repeatedly. Laws against consensual adult relationships destroy families.

Perhaps this letter writer simply doesn't like that people enjoy themselves and each other and love one another in ways his religious community has decided are wrong?

There is no good reason for the continued criminalization of consensual adult relationships.