On another but related note, Jeff Jacoby wrote an interesting article last week called Trying to Outrun Lawrence. He discusses the case of Allen Muth (age 45) and Patricia Muth (age 30), who were convicted of a sexual felony, resulting in a prison term of eight years for Allen and five years for Pat, in separate maximum-security prisons, 25 miles apart.
But Allen and Patricia Muth are not gay. They were convicted of incest. Although they didn't meet until Patricia was 18 -- she had been raised from infancy in foster care -- they were brother and sister, children of the same biological parents. They were also strongly attracted to each other, emotionally and physically. And so, disregarding the taboo against incest, they became a couple and had four children.
After looking at the language of the 2003 Supreme Court decision Lawrence v. Texas, Jacoby concludes:
There is simply no principled escape from the logic of Lawrence: If the Constitution forbids the states to criminalize private sexual conduct between consenting adults, lovers who happen to be siblings can no more be considered lawbreakers than lovers who happen to be men.
It may seem unthinkable now to legalize incest, but there's no doubt in my mind that such debate is ahead of us.
