This Week's Winning Entry From Morons.Org

Republican candidate for the office of Attorney General in Georgia isn't just strongly biased against gay kids, he's also ignorant of Georgia law...

Posted by spatula on Aug. 03, 2006.

Georgia Republican candidate for the office of Attorney General Perry McGuire figures the recent ruling that White County schools cannot forbid a gay/straight alliance from meeting is incorrect and in some way immoral.
He further claims gay/straight alliances are illegal. His reasoning? GSA's, of course, are sex clubs, and sex among minors, he claims, is also illegal. His exact words were, "in Georgia, sex between minors is illegal; statutory rape laws apply."

There are a few problems here. First and foremost, this is a misrepresentation of the purpose of gay/straight alliances, such as the one in White County. GSA's exist to promote tolerance and understanding of gay students and to provide a safe space for gay students to talk about the challenges of being gay or being perceived as gay in their schools and communities. They do not exist to advocate having sex. They are not sex clubs either. Despite what mister McGuire may think, there's more to being a gay teenager than just having gay sex. Being gay in modern society puts one in a different social context with its own challenges. Often these challenges come in the form of bigots who arbitrarily hate you for those you love, such as McGuire. Gay people are not gay only while they're having sexual relations any more than straight people are straight only while in the missionary position with the lights off and a sheet between them.

McGuire's misrepresentation could only be malicious and intentional; how could anyone forget that even couples -- be them homosexual or heterosexual -- engage in activities other than merely sex? They date, they spend time together, they talk, they hold hands. These things are trivial enough for heterosexuals but can be terrifying and even life-threatening for homosexual kids (mainly due to anti-gay aggressors like Perry McGuire), especially if they have no safe space.

Furthermore, for a candidate for Attorney General, McGuire is surprisingly ignorant of Georgia law. Georgia code 16-6-3 defines statutory rape this way:

16-6-3.
(a) A person commits the offense of statutory rape when he or she engages in sexual intercourse with any person under the age of 16 years and not his or her spouse, provided that no conviction shall be had for this offense on the unsupported testimony of the victim.
Presumably there are students in Georgia high schools who are 16 years old or older. It would not qualify as statutory rape for these students to have sex with each other if they wanted.
McGuire went on to impart more of his great wisdom, equating GSAs with other "illegal" activities saying that allowing them to meet is "much like allowing a pedophile club or a gambling club to meet at school." Yes, right-wingers just can't resist comparing homosexual people with pedophiles, even though the myth that gay people are more likely to be pedophiles is long dead and buried. Based on news reports in the past few years, it might be more accurate to compare allowing Christian groups to meet in schools with pedophilia and gambling. Based on the incorrectness of his premise, however, one needn't bother opening this can of worms.

Hopefully Georgia voters will reject this anti-gay bigot in his run for Attorney General, if not for his clear and disturbing bias then for his wanton ignorance of Georgia law, a topic in which a legitimate Attorney General should be well-versed.

---Nick

I hope they will reject this idiot also, assuming you quoted him correctly. He does sound like a real winner. Anyone who wants to check out the web site can go here