Attention Outgoing State Governors

There are state Governors in the US who are rapidly approaching the end of their terms as Governor and will be leaving that office.

We are respectfully imploring you to use your executive powers to pardon any of your residents convicted of crimes due to having consensual (to be redundant) sex with an adult under anti-incest laws, whether they are currently in the justice system or not, even if they have since passed away,

Let's be clear. We're not talking about assault or child molestation. We're talking about sex between consenting adults (or between minors close in age to each other), still criminalized in your states. The laws should be changed, but since they haven't been yet, please have mercy on these people.

This plea is directed at the following Governors:

Matt Mead - Wyoming
Scott Walker - Wisconsin
Bill Haslam - Tennessee
Dennis Daugaard - South Dakota
Jerry Brown - California
John Hickenlooper - Colorado
Dannel Malloy - Connecticut
Rick Scott - Florida
Nathan Deal - Georgia
Butch Otter - Idaho
Bruce Rauner - Illinois
Jeff Colyer - Kansas
Paul LePage - Maine
Rick Snyder - Michigan
Mark Dayton - Minnesota
Brian Sandoval - Nevada
Susana Martinez - New Mexico
John Kasich - Ohio
Mary Fallin - Oklahoma

If we've missed an outgoing Governor, we apologize.


This plea is also directed at Governors of US territories: If you have the power to do so, pardon or at least commute the sentences of those listed as criminals due to consanguineous affections.

If you are the Governor or someone on the Governor's staff, or someone with access to the Governor, please act quickly to get this done. We know time is very limited.

There is no good reason these people should suffer any more for having had a physical relationship.

Let's stop wasting public resources on treating these people like they are a threat to anyone. If they were convicted of additional crimes relating to the investigation, their arrest, prosecution, etc., please consider pardoning them of those, too.

Do the kind, merciful, and just thing as you end your term as Governor. Get on the right side of history!

Please pardon!

Wisconsin Prosecuting Over Victimless Crime

Here's a report from wsaw.com that is missing some important information. It is headlined "Taylor Co. Siblings Accused of Engaging in Incestuous Relationship."

Two siblings in Taylor County are facing criminal charges after they accused engaging in an incestuous relationship.

According to court documents, the defendants were reportedly 16-years-old and 18-years-old when the alleged misconduct occurred in 2014.

Who was which age? That might matter, as we'll see below.

Court documents state an investigation began when a different sibling ran away. Authorities said the girl said she left because of what had occurred between her brother and sister, and because her brother asked her to have sex.

How old was the runaway? We're not told. It matters.

That's when court document state he asked another sibling who consented.

It makes a difference about the ages. Is he 18 and the runaway 13? 12? Or, is he the 16-year-old and the runaway 15 of 14? Notice he asked her to have sex. She said no. He asked his other sister, who is either two years older than him or two years younger than him, and she consented. So he might, depending on how things went, be guilty of sexual harassment toward the other sister, but he's obviously not guilty of sexual assault or molestation.

The relationship did not result in a child.

There's no victim. While the age of consent in Wisconsin is 18, sex with a 16-year-old is a misdemeanor. But they are apparently being prosecuted for incest.

If convicted, both defendants could face up 12.5 years in prison.

How outrageous. Both are facing prison time. Again, who is the victim? Prosecute the 18-year-old for a misdemeanor against the 16-year-old, if you must. This is another example of how incest laws are abused. It is assault or molestation that should be prosecuted, not when teens who are two years in age apart consent to have sex with each other. They didn't meet at a party earlier that night. They know each other and presumably love each other.

The state and county authorities should drop the incest case immediately and apologize. If the uninvolved sibling really does feel harassed, then move the brother out and/or get her some counseling.

Priorities in Law Enforcement, Journalism

An adult man had consensual sex with an adult woman. That shouldn't be a crime, but he was arrested and criminally charged anyway.

An adult woman sexually assaulted a toddler and self (apparently) documented her crime on video. She was criminally charged for her crimes, as she should be.

These things have happened in Wisconsin. But it would be nice to have some clarity and prioritizing in the reports.

Here's a report by Ashley Luthern at jsoline.com with the headline "Oak Creek Woman, Rancine Man Charged in Incest Case"....

The brother of an Oak Creek woman accused of filming her sexual assaults of a young relative was charged Tuesday with incest.

The way that's written, it appears ambiguous as to whether the "accused" refers to the woman or the brother, as in... was the brother accused of filming her, or was she accused of filming herself? Proximity implies the latter. Based on the rest of the story and another report, it doesn't seem like the brother was involved in the abuse of the toddler at all. He is being criminally charged for consensual sex with the woman.

Justin S. Surber, 33, of Racine admitted to police that he had a consensual sexual relationship with his sister, Jessica Bell, from 2012 until May or June 2013, according to a criminal complaint.

Bell, 24, was adopted and didn't find Surber, her biological brother, until last year.

So this sounds like it could be Genetic Sexual Attraction.

Shame on Grant County, Wisconsin

This was something I posted in 2010, and I'm bumping it up because it shows the importance of having relationship rights for all adults, and why the US Supreme Court should make a bold ruling for relationship rights, including full marriage equality, for all adults.


In what has to be an update to case I wrote about back in May 2010, a 25 year-old Blue River, Wisconsin man is has been convicted of incest because of consensual sex with another adult.

Another Case of Genetic Sexual Attraction?

How cheesy. In Wisconsin, a man is facing a long prison sentence for apparently consensual sex with another adult.

A 23-year-old Delavan man was charged Thursday with four counts of incest after he allegedly had sexual relations with his half-sister.

He was charged with incest. He wasn't charged with sexual assault.

According to the criminal complaint, a Reedsburg police officer met with a woman who said she was reunited with her half-brother as a result of a family member's death.

That sounds like it could be Genetic Sexual Attraction, depending on how long they'd be apart.

The woman receives services from Sauk County and is considered a "vulnerable adult," according to the complaint.

Most people "receive services" of some sort from their county government. What does that mean? Are they saying she is incapable of making decisions on her own? If so, does she have a guardian? I suppose that is why he is charged and she isn't?

The woman told investigators that she and her half brother engaged in numerous sexual acts between Jan. 6 and Feb. 9 at her Reedsburg apartment.

That makes it sound consensual.

When questioned by a Reedsburg police detective, the man said his girlfriend couldn't get pregnant so he wanted to get his half-sister pregnant, the complaint states.

If he said that, it wasn't the smartest thing to say to investigators. Half-siblings can and do have healthy children, however. Laws against consanguinamory are unjust, and so it is okay to deny involvement when talking with investigators. Unjust laws should be resisted.

The man, who is on probation for contributing to the delinquency of a minor conviction and disorderly conduct charge in Rock County, was ordered held in custody despite a $25,000 signature bond in the new case.

Doesn't sound like a model citizen, but everyone should be free to have consensual sex with other adults.

If found guilty, he could be sentenced to a maximum of 50 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.

50 years in prison? I would expect that for rape. This doesn't sound like rape. If it was, charge him with that. Either this article is lacking or something is seriously messed up in Wisconsin.

She's Not Going to Win Mother of the Year

A 40-year-old woman is in big trouble in Waukesha, Wisconsin for something she allegedly did with her 16-year-old daughter. Wisconsin is famous for cheese, but this involved cheesecake.

According to the criminal complaint:

The woman — who isn’t being named in order to protect the identity of the victim — took pictures of her daughter dressing, her bare breast and at least one other picture of the two performing sexually explicit acts.

Taking pictures was risky, even if they didn’t do this…

The pictures were discovered by another woman who was using the mother’s computer to download a picture from Facebook.

Even if they didn’t let someone else use the computer, there’s always the risk of hacking, provided the computer is ever connected to the network.

The woman told police they had taken sexually explicit photos together in order to know if someone were using the computer without her permission, while the victim told police they made the photos as “a joke.”

The “why” doesn't really matter to the law. She could have helped her daughter make herself look like someone who was brutally murdered as a Halloween thing (or with her daughter pretended to be a murdering maniac) and taken a picture of that, but a picture showing her bare breast and whatever it was they appeared to be doing together? Nuh-uh. Not allowed.

The woman is charged with one count of incest and one count of possession of child pornography. If convicted, she faces up to 65 years in prison.

I notice that she isn’t charged with sexual assault or anything implying force. No indication is given that the daughter was anything but a willing participant. That being said, the age of consent in Wisconsin is 18. I have to wonder what charges there would be if the 16-year-old had taken nude photos of herself, or if she had taken one with another 16-year-old. And notice that the charge isn’t about having sex with a minor, though that would make more sense to me. It is about having sex with a close relative, which shouldn’t be a crime in and of itself. But then, the law in Wisconsin treats sex with a 16-year-old as a misdemeanor, unless they are married, and the charge applies to “sexual intercourse.” Can two women, under the laws of Wisconsin, actually have sexual intercourse? And I find it interesting that a 16-year-old can apparently get married in Wisconsin but can’t consent to sex… unless it is within marriage. Also, the 16-year-old can consent to getting married, but can’t consent to being photographed nude? So, the daughter could have gotten married, but couldn’t have legally posed nude for her own spouse?

I also notice that there isn’t a charge of abuse or neglect.

Was this a matter of an otherwise good mother who did something stupid? What does the daughter have to say about all of this? We let 16-year-olds operate heavy machinery at high speeds and get married. Surely she can have an opinion that should be taken into consideration, unless she is shown to be mentally incompetent?

The focus on this blog is rights for consenting adults, and I’m not asking for the age of consent to be lowered anywhere. But I do think there should be some sense and consistency. There is no indication that this was a situation with a predator who was looking to exploit images of a child. It will be interesting to see what the sentence ends up being.

Sentencing Delayed in Grant County Case

The authorities in Grant County, Wisconsin still have time to start to do the right thing.

Sentencing of the brother in the criminal case against a brother and sister for having consensual sex was expected today but has been pushed back to November 16.

My most recent previous update on this case is here.

Grant County, Wisconsin: Stop prosecuting adults for consensual sex.

Second Person Found Guilty in Consensual Relationship

More shame on Grant County, Wisconsin, where a case to two adults having consensual sex continues to he prosecuted. See my prior update on this.

A 20-year-old Platteville woman has been found guilty of incest.

Elizabeth Marie Roen was found guilty Wednesday in Grant County Circuit Court of having sexual intercourse with her 25-year-old brother, David Bisbach, at least 10 times in 2009 in the village of Blue River.

Again, why is this a crime?

Roen was sentenced to five years of probation, three months in jail with work release, and she must hold a full-time job or attend school, or make three job applications a week. She was placed on the sex offender registry and is not to have unsupervised visits with her brothers Chris or David.

Outrageous. Everyone involved in the prosecution and conviction should be ashamed of themselves. What consenting adults do in private should be nobody else's business.

Update on Wisconsin Case

Here’s an update on a story I wrote about before, in which a man was criminally charged in Wisconsin for consensual sex with an adult woman: his sister. She is now being charged with incest as well.

If convicted, the woman may be fined up to $25,000 and a maximum penalty of 12.5 years in prison.

Sigh. There are a few states in the US that would not take this ridiculous action. None should.

It should not be a crime to for consenting adults to have sex in private. If it isn’t your thing to have sex with someone of the same sex or someone closely related to you, then don’t. But how can someone not only deny someone else the freedom to marry, but the right to sex?

Wisconsin Man Being Prosecuted For Consensual Adult Sex

He’s being charged under incest law for having consensual consanguineous sex with his adult sister.

The 25-year-old man from Blue River was charged Friday with incest. The felony charge carries a maximum penalty of 12.5 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.

While there is no mention of charges against his sister, there is no indication in the article that their relationship was anything but consensual and he’s not being charged with assault or rape. So why is there a criminal case?

The criminal complaint says the man and his sister had repeated sexual contact between July 4 and Dec. 15, 2009.

Sounds like a loving relationship.

The complaint doesn't list the sister's age but Grant County Sheriff's Sgt. Jim Kopp says she's an adult.

So, Sheriff Kopp, why bother interfering?

The complaint says the man told investigators his sister was the aggressor. He also told investigators his sister filed court documents identifying him as the father of a child she had in February.

Over twelve years in prison for this relationship? Not only should he not be prosecuted, but he should be encouraged to marry his sister. Doesn’t their child deserve married parents? Another example of how a lack of marriage equality has real harms. This issue isn't just about symbols and words. It is about real people and real love.