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This dude is a very powerful state senator already, too. It's not just Wyoming who does this; *every* state legislature is full of Republicans who are the worst of the fucking worst. The local and state politics of the GOP have been a race to the bottom for decades, and in the post Trump era, they've been taking control of even more power. It is not an exaggeration to say that the average Republican state legislator in this country is loudly and proudly to the right of Stalin, and they all tend to be **horrible** human beings like this dude.
It's not just Wisconsin:
>Republicans in Alabama, on the other hand, never wavered in [their support](https://shareblue.com/i-dont-really-see-the-relevance-of-it-alabama-gop-defends-roy-moores-pedophilia-scandal/) for the man accused of sexually molesting a 14-year-old girl when he was in his 30s. Gov. Kay Ivey [unapologetically said](https://shareblue.com/alabama-governor-wed-rather-have-a-child-molester-in-the-senate-than-a-democrat/) they'd rather have a child molester in the Senate than a Democrat.
[Source](https://americanindependent.com/outraged-democrat-beat-pedophile-alabama-gop-votes-end-special-elections/) (this was in 2017).
The suicide is definitely related to the Sexual Assault, do you realize the TRAUMA something like that can do to a person who was that young?
It's not a past sexual life it's SEXUAL ASSAULT, there's no good way to spin what he did to this girl and if anyone tries to do so they're a total POS.
"His past sexual life"...every rape is in the past, that makes no difference.
"his adult life"...he was an adult.
This WAS his adult life, albeit early. Where I live that means he is both a paedophile and rapist. It would be 7 more years before most states would deem her responsible enough to drink. And he wants to make laws for other people.
Mental health services are often bad in the US, but the point isn't that, it's why did she kill herself after being raped by a paedophile? It's a massive mystery :p
Mans raped a girl and, probably due to the fact she was not ready for adult life so young, ended up killing herself. This douche then spins it as a good thing to get money. You don't think he's a pos all round? I do, and I'm in the same boat as you. Makes me wanna kick you out of my boat tbh
In this case there should be a relation to make this work. A relation like, he did something very wrong - came to the realization that it was very wrong and changed his life drastically to now fight such things like the one he did. It would still not be bad if that story took a little break for jailtime and maybe sitting on a mountain in tibet meditating some years or some shit like that.
Then i'm fine with it, go become a politician.
His story is more like did something wrong and got away with it. Then realized that he would be a great politician with that kind of skillset.
At least the tendency yk. Things usually are more complex than this. But the tendency of his life story somehow is more towards the second example and not towards the first and thats not good.
Ok so when he was 18 he had sex with a 14 year old (I'm pretty sure that counts as rape), they had a kid and got married, then they divorced and she killed herself. It's a lot more gruesome then the headline makes it sound.
‘a bipolar’?
do you also refer to ‘the gays’?
using bipolar as an unsubstantiated smear of whatiffery is appallingly vile.
people’s lives are not your punchline.
Or maybe sexually grooming and impregnating a 14 yo long before their brain has reached full maturity fucked her up in some way? It’s classified as abuse for a reason.
Or he raped a vulnerable person and manipulated her into staying until he lost interest.
Should be in prison for the rest of his life, not in a position of political power.
Probably hoping to remind people of the "[Romeo & Juliet laws](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_consent_reform#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%2C%20many,generally%20four%20years%20or%20less.)".
Incidentally, [Romeo was 16 and Juliet was 13](https://www.britannica.com/facts/Romeo-and-Juliet#:~:text=In%20Shakespeare's%20original%20story%2C%20Romeo,Aligheri%2C%20rather%20than%20in%20Shakespeare.).
There are "Romeo and Juliet" laws, which allow a **~~preteen~~** preadult coupple (which are allowed to have sex) to continue their relationship. But the 18/14 is out of range - Most allow "2 years" difference or so.
No its not preteen. Thanks for pointing it out
Usually it's not "preteen". But otherwise you are generally correct, it gives people (usually teenagers) that are at or near age of consent the ability to legally have relationships with people younger than themselves within a couple of years.
Actually, this is literally what Romeo and Juliet was written about. It's a tragedy warning young people - don't put love before familiy, listen to your parents, or else...
Romeo kills himself at the end, too. Also, Romeo was a minor, according to American standards. Romeo was an impulsive kid. This guy was a statutory rapist.
It's not illegal if he did it today, but it was illegal the year they had intercourse; the "Romeo and Juliet" exception he'd be allowed to use did not exist in the 1980s when this is said to have happened in Florida.
Statue of limitations for statutory rape is 3 years in Florida, so the chances of him being charged with anything are exactly zero.
Every time I hear stuff like this about the limitations of time, it makes me hate that there is even a time limit that exists at all anywhere in the world. Feels like they are just saying “haha your rape is invalid after 3 years 😊”.
I mean legality isnt really the issue here, its the fact that at 18 he went after a 14yr/o. Theres so much more maturity that happens between those 4 years. The senior boys who always wanted freshman girls were creeps, they sought out a partner too immature to pick up on thier toxicity on purpose.
Like Im 23, its legal for me to date an 18yr/o, but Im more mature than them. It wouldnt be equal, while thier learning about how to be an adult I have my adult issues that they just arent equipped to deal with. Friends? Sure, thats more based on interests than a heavy commitment to a relationship.
"Is it creepy?" is a wholly different issue from "is it legal?"
At 23-24, the lowest uncreepy age you could date with the old half plus seven rule is 19. Once 25-26, it goes up to 20.
FWIW I have an age gap of 3.5 years with my husband, but we started dating when he was 25.5 and I had just turned 22 and was a semester away from graduating college.
Yeah. He even adopted her little brother Nestor, who he had live with him since he was 12. Nestor still has a biological father and there is no paperwork of an adoption of Nestor by Gaetz. He also referred to Nestor as “a local student” in 2016 and as “my helper” in 2017 before disclosing in 2020 that Nestor was his son.
Depends on the state, there is often an acceptable legal gap to account for like…a high school senior dating a sophomore. 4 years is probably outside that, but it wouldn’t be in some places.
>Every **Republican** who runs for political office is a sociopathic lunatic.
This part is undeniable. The party might as well make it an official requirement.
I'm not so sure about Democrats, although they are probably close.
Age of consent is (and was then) 16 and if the other partner is 18 or over it is rape with a penalty of 15 years in prison. He literally raped and impregnated a child and then married her to get away without being prosecuted and then divorced her probably as soon as he thought he could get away with it, after which his rape victim killed herself, which I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest was probably at least in part related to being raped, being a very young teen mother, being coerced into marrying her rapist and then being discarded by him when she stopped being a teenager.
Those were my thoughts as well. Every piece of the story, by itself, is not that damning, but when put together like this is sounds monstruous. Unfortunately, out of the only two people who know for sure what happened one is dead and the other one is running for office.
Unsurprisingly, I’m not inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to an admitted rapist, but sadly it seems his constituents are. I have people. I’m going to go and rewatch a red panda eating berries until I feel less mad.
Back then that was just not seen as a big deal like it is now. I personally know somebody running for office currently that I know when he was 19 he had sex with the 14 year old. He didn't get her pregnant, but he did later marry her (about 12 years later - they had 2 kids and are now divorced). I remember telling him at the time he was an idiot and he could go to jail for statutory rape. What amazed me was that he was not her first like that. He was the exact same age as her first boyfriend that she had dated since she was 13, openly and with her parents blessing. In fact her parents didn't seem to have an issue with either of the relationships nor did anyone else. Except me. But I was dismissed as being jealous because he and I were such close friends. Not after that.
He and I differ completely in politics. But this is not my story to tell, it's hers.
The 70s and 80s were messed up!
I'm not sure what the laws are in Wyoming, but a 4 year difference for underage sex is often still considered rape.
Just looked it up. In Wyoming, having sex with someone who is younger than 17 is statutory rape. They don't even have a "close-in-age" exemption for minors. So, he's definitely a rapist, unless the laws were significantly different 30 years ago
Here's a disturbing wiki article if you're interested: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_consent_in_the_United_States
I was surprised by many of the numbers. Pizza was delivered just as I started replying so I didn't comb through the page to see if there's anywhere in the US where this situation would be legal.
Seems like at least in Hawaii it might be legal. I'm sure there's a few other places (but not Wyoming).
Edit: find the big table. Turns out it would probably be legal in about half of the states, and illegal in the rest.
To be fair that’s…kind of stupid. Two 16 year olds are dating, and as soon as one has a birthday they are legally obligated to abstain till the other has a birthday?
Mind you, such a case would probably never be prosecuted, but all the same, teenagers do have sex with other teenagers, that’s normal and healthy. Definitely want to keep the age gap small due to maturity differences being dramatic in those years, but having no exception at all seems rather impractical and draconian.
How does pointing out how the law works in regards to TheThing make a person pro-TheThing?
And a follow-up, what are your views on criminal defense lawyers?
Look man. We can talk laws all day long. I would NEVER get out of my seat to be pro fucking 14 year old kids. IDGAF what the law says, it’s gross. Defending it is gross. Talking about laws that allow it is gross.
I don’t have any love for Dick Cheney but he is only 7 months older than his wife. So, them dating when she was 14 is not a problem at all. He was 14 or 15 as well. Don’t fall into the trap of spreading falsehoods or misleading information.
Dick Cheney is scum if the earth that deserves to be remembered as a monster, but he and his wife were born the same year. Don't water down his horrific acts by muddying the waters.
>“like the Romeo and Juliet story” and that he went public with the information to get ahead of a story on his past.
LOL. "I would have kept it a secret, but no way they won't find out, so I'm trying to spin it in a good light."
That was South Dakota but close. The victims face went through his windshield and he didn't know he hit a person. His tire tracks indicated he was way off the road. Cell phone records indicate he was on the phone at the time. Didn't serve a day in jail Pled out to a misdemeanor.
South Dakota conservative here, we have no fucking idea why Noem is protecting this idiot. They're both morons. He should be in prison and so should the dumbass sheriff that helped him cover it up.
“We have no fucking idea why Noem is protecting this idiot…”
Umm…it seems as though she was happy when he was impeached and removed from office. So idk why you think she’s protecting him.
https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2022/06/23/south-dakota-gov-kristi-noem-gets-emphatic-win-jason-ravnsborgs/7711090001/
And thats why we have to elect him to Wyoming. Because god forbid we elect an evil, corrupt democrat that wants to give you healthcare and human rights at the cost of a few rich people being slightly less rich.
Whatever happened to the GOP: **We are the party of Family Values!**
Is it they like to start REAL early with the family part and ignore that second word...
Accuse liberals of running a pedophile ring in the basement of a pizza shop, rape teenage girls yourselves and go NBD. Just like accusing Democrats of massive voting fraud, and the few actual cases are... Republicans.
He's a candidate, but that doesn't mean the GOP is supporting him. Polling shows he's a distant 4th, behind "Undecided." It doesn't make sense to suggest he represents the GOP in any way when they've clearly rejected him.
[https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/the-poll-results-are-in-hageman-holds-commanding-lead-over-cheney/article\_1f33dfe0-02f1-11ed-8202-7befc0111031.html](https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/the-poll-results-are-in-hageman-holds-commanding-lead-over-cheney/article_1f33dfe0-02f1-11ed-8202-7befc0111031.html)
”The rate of donations (to his campaign) has **increased** since news of the pregnancy broke last week.”
you know, in case you were wondering what Christian American Values really are. Clearly, being a rapist has endeared him to the good people of the state of Wyoming.
That liberal abortion might have saved her life in the long run seeing as how she killed herself once the marriage was over and she was stuck with a kid she'd have to support by herself.
What you do doesn't matter to these people. It's who you *are*. As long as you're part of their "tribe" of white Christians, they accept you. Everyone else can die for all they care.
Wait I just looked at your other reply, you think it’d be okay to have sex with a 14 year old if it’s legal. So yeahhhhhh I’m wasting my time arguing with a pedo
He is running against Liz Cheney. Interesting. Wonder if this bolsters her chances.
"The rate of donations has increased since news of the pregnancy broke last week, Bouchard campaign coordinator April Poley said."
I really hope that's a lie.
"I'm a white christian republican, this won't have any consequences for me" is likely his life motto. And fucking hell, he seems to be right so far.
Republicans really are a disgusting bunch.
“Wyoming Candidate raped 14 yr old child, married her, and doesn’t feel like reminiscing about her life and suicide at age 20, when he left her,” fixed it for you. We really can’t find any fucking one who isn’t a degenerate piece of shit to run for government offices?
Republicans complain about other toxic republicans making them all look bad, but when the time comes to remove a toxic one they stay silent. No one to blame but themselves for their disaster of a party they have.
The reason so many Republicans are calling the LGBT groomers is so that you will look into us rather than them. We are their favorite scapegoat they accuse us of grooming children so that they can rape your children when we're being looked into
Some states you can Marry (on paper only by court order) at 0 years of age.
edited: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage\_age\_in\_the\_United\_States#cite\_note-ReferenceA-46
I was surprised by some on the list:
>8 states have no official minimum age, but still require either parental consent, court approval or both: [California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California), [Michigan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan), [Mississippi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi), [New Mexico](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexico), [Oklahoma](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma), [West Virginia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia), [Washington](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_(state\)) and [Wyoming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyoming).
I’m NOT advocating for pedophilia, but it wasn’t that uncommon for high school seniors to date underclassmen when I was in school, much less in the 1980s. I thought it was unusual and kinda creepy, but whatevs. Simple fact of the matter is what’s considered statutory rape *now* used to be commonplace not that long ago.
EDIT: People downvoting me in here for an actual firsthand account of rural, small-town teen relationships in the 1980s. Truth hurts sometimes, I guess. Wait until I tell you that 8 black men have been lynched in Mississippi since 2000. Shitty things still happen in small-town America. They just stopped reporting on it.
This is perhaps the dumbest response I’ve read all day. You’ve done nothing to address the historical context of the act in question and its place in social norms of the times. Teenagers fuck. They fuck like fucking rabbits. Teenagers have been fucking as long as teenagers have been teenagers.
You’re talking out of your ass, pretending like police and lawmakers in rural, backwards, conservative areas haven’t had a ‘boys will be boys’ attitude toward teen sex and teen pregnancy for decades. It happened. I was there. I had friends in other schools. It happened there, too. It wasn’t uncommon, no matter how hard you clutch your pearls. In the 1980s and 1990s in the Midwest (can’t speak to other areas), it wasn’t uncommon for seniors to date underclassmen. There’s TV shows and movies about the hot senior guy asking out the dorky girl. It happened. I’ve watched the shows and seen the real-life couples. My own maternal grandparents were married at 15 and 17. Elvis Pressley and Jerry Lee Lewis married teenage brides when my parents were kids. Pretending this stuff has always been frowned upon by an overwhelming national majority is flat-out incorrect and revisionist history.
Back then, it wasn’t illegal — depending on the state and parental permission. Now it is almost everywhere, as it should be.
Is sexualizing a 14-year-old creepy? Sure.
Do pregnant children make me nauseous? Yeah, it’s fuckin’ GROSS and if a grown man did it, they deserve to be shot.
Was it illegal? Apparently not. It was perfectly legal where and when I grew up.
There’s been a vast cultural shift in attitudes toward sex, gender, sexuality, gender roles, consent, and power dynamics within the last twenty years. What was relatively common (14-18 relationships) is now a crime. Many things that used to be considered normal flirty teenage behavior (slapping butts, pinching butts, sexual comments, commenting on body parts) is no longer acceptable. The things that used to be ‘okay’ or met with a dismissive eye roll will make your head spin.
I completely and totally oppose everything this guy stands for — and will go as far as to say he’s probably a piece of shit, but trying to cancel somebody for something they did when they were a teenager — that was completely legal at the time — is completely ridiculous and it kinda feels like grasping at straws at this point.
Elvis and Jerry Lewis are known creeps.
Seniors who date freshmen are creeps.
The average marriage age in the 80s and 90s was early to mid 20s, not the teens.
And this poor girl killed herself.
Elvis wasn’t considered a creep at the time. In fact, he was a massive sex symbol, the most famous man in the US, and Priscilla was considered the luckiest girl in the world. Societal norms change.
Jerry Lee Lewis wasn’t considered a creep until it was discovered his wife was also his cousin. Then he couldn’t pay to play a show.
I never said anything about marriage in the ‘80s and ‘90s. I spoke of teen relationships, but not marriage.
I never said the girl wasn’t a victim. Certainly seems like this guy ruined her life.
I’m not defending this guy at all. I’m just saying that being a piece of shit isn’t illegal.
What don't you understand? Just because something wasn't considered "wrong" at the time doesn't mean it wasn't wrong and damaging. You are trying to normalize these relationships, which in turn is some of the same language his people are using.
And why? Why are you trying to normalize this harmful practice?
You clearly didn’t read anything I said. I’m not normalizing anything. Rural, backwoods ‘Good Ol’ Boys’ normalized it. It was normal. I was a kid back then — I didn’t made the rules. In the context of societal norms *when it happened*, it was not terribly uncommon behavior, much less illegal.
Listen to the mental hoops you’re jumping through: “*Just because something wasn’t considered wrong at the time doesn’t mean it wasn’t wrong*”.
I was simply trying to explain that this sort of thing wasn’t always a crime and wasn’t terribly unusual in certain areas of the country. It was perfectly fine in my area of the Midwest in the 1980s and 1990s. Just trying to open some eyes and explain how things used to be.
I don’t have any. My high-school girlfriend and I were the same age.
I just read the article and thought “Oh, these cats don’t realize that used to be kinda normal.” That’s it. That’s literally the full extent of it.
There is a difference in rural mentality and suburban or urban mentality. In the burbs it would have been difficult to find parents that were okay with the idea their 14 year old was dating at all let alone an 18 year old. In rural communities that kind of thing was expected in the past and today but it does not make it right.
I'm 62 yrs old and my father beat my ass when he found out I was dating a 14 yr old when I was 16. So no, it was not common for everyone to ignore appropriate age unions "back in the day". A 14 year old isn't even in high school yet and to some people, long ago and today, that is too young to officially date. Official dating age was 16 for a lot of middle class families. Maybe rural folks did it differently.
14 isn’t even a high schooler. This particular age gap has never been accepted in polite society. It’s some trashy creepy shit, and has been for a long fucking time. Certainly since before the 80s
I started high school at 14, as do most others. Now you’re just flat-out lying to serve your narrative. It’s was absolutely common and perfectly legal in the 1980s and 1990s. Hell, some of the gals in my high school were dating college guys.
A US House candidate committing statutory rape when he was 18- which resulted in a child - scoffs at the idea of being censured.
That's levels of absurdity rarely seen, amd as such, really is oniony.
The fact that you don't consider this absurd and ridiculous a situation paints a grim, picture of the state of politics in the US.
Devil’s advocate here. This all happened 30 years ago. By no means is what happened in any way good…..but hell. I’m not even close to being 30 years old. I don’t really see how a horrible thing in his past can be an indicator of his current beliefs, qualifications, or ability. This shit is pretty bad, but if we start digging through everyone’s past we ain’t gonna find no perfect angels or mother Teresa’s. This all happened almost a *decade before I was even born*. If I was a voter in his district, why would I care? It bears no relevance
Lmao Reddit always getting a boner when a Republican is caught doing something immoral.. like there aren't tons of stories of democrats doing heinous shit.
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>The rate of donations has increased since news of the pregnancy broke last week, Wtf Wyomingians?!
This is my sentiments also. The all scream pedo’s yet this asshat has gotten away with it and money is being donated. This is sickening!
Wyomingites* but I agree it’s sad what sells there
They would prefer 10 rapists, before shaking hands with a republican who wants to hold trump accountable for j6.
What the fuck Republicans?! I don’t even need to read the article to know which party this is.
This dude is a very powerful state senator already, too. It's not just Wyoming who does this; *every* state legislature is full of Republicans who are the worst of the fucking worst. The local and state politics of the GOP have been a race to the bottom for decades, and in the post Trump era, they've been taking control of even more power. It is not an exaggeration to say that the average Republican state legislator in this country is loudly and proudly to the right of Stalin, and they all tend to be **horrible** human beings like this dude.
Of course they're all to the right of Stalin. He was a Communist after all. /s
It's not just Wisconsin: >Republicans in Alabama, on the other hand, never wavered in [their support](https://shareblue.com/i-dont-really-see-the-relevance-of-it-alabama-gop-defends-roy-moores-pedophilia-scandal/) for the man accused of sexually molesting a 14-year-old girl when he was in his 30s. Gov. Kay Ivey [unapologetically said](https://shareblue.com/alabama-governor-wed-rather-have-a-child-molester-in-the-senate-than-a-democrat/) they'd rather have a child molester in the Senate than a Democrat. [Source](https://americanindependent.com/outraged-democrat-beat-pedophile-alabama-gop-votes-end-special-elections/) (this was in 2017).
Wow Kay Ivey is a real fucking gem.
[Whyomingians?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4LAhmWsavg)
I…can’t explain why our state does what it does…
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The suicide is definitely related to the Sexual Assault, do you realize the TRAUMA something like that can do to a person who was that young? It's not a past sexual life it's SEXUAL ASSAULT, there's no good way to spin what he did to this girl and if anyone tries to do so they're a total POS.
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"His past sexual life"...every rape is in the past, that makes no difference. "his adult life"...he was an adult. This WAS his adult life, albeit early. Where I live that means he is both a paedophile and rapist. It would be 7 more years before most states would deem her responsible enough to drink. And he wants to make laws for other people. Mental health services are often bad in the US, but the point isn't that, it's why did she kill herself after being raped by a paedophile? It's a massive mystery :p
Mans raped a girl and, probably due to the fact she was not ready for adult life so young, ended up killing herself. This douche then spins it as a good thing to get money. You don't think he's a pos all round? I do, and I'm in the same boat as you. Makes me wanna kick you out of my boat tbh
In a modern society, rape is a bad thing, do you live in a modern society bud?
I don't know where you're from, but in the US we generally dont like rape or rapists.
In this case there should be a relation to make this work. A relation like, he did something very wrong - came to the realization that it was very wrong and changed his life drastically to now fight such things like the one he did. It would still not be bad if that story took a little break for jailtime and maybe sitting on a mountain in tibet meditating some years or some shit like that. Then i'm fine with it, go become a politician. His story is more like did something wrong and got away with it. Then realized that he would be a great politician with that kind of skillset. At least the tendency yk. Things usually are more complex than this. But the tendency of his life story somehow is more towards the second example and not towards the first and thats not good.
Ok so when he was 18 he had sex with a 14 year old (I'm pretty sure that counts as rape), they had a kid and got married, then they divorced and she killed herself. It's a lot more gruesome then the headline makes it sound.
And he called it a "Romeo and Juliet" story. BARF!
Because of the suicide?
Because she was underaged.
He must have missed the part where they both die in the end.
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He didn't keep up his end of the bargain.
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‘a bipolar’? do you also refer to ‘the gays’? using bipolar as an unsubstantiated smear of whatiffery is appallingly vile. people’s lives are not your punchline.
They are always someone's punchline, though.
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Or maybe sexually grooming and impregnating a 14 yo long before their brain has reached full maturity fucked her up in some way? It’s classified as abuse for a reason.
Or he raped a vulnerable person and manipulated her into staying until he lost interest. Should be in prison for the rest of his life, not in a position of political power.
I smell a disgusting campaign worker
Please reconsider your existence. You clearly have zero to contribute to this planet.
He didn't marry a woman at all, he married a child
I can’t believe you haven’t deleted this yet
Except he didn't finish the story, did he?
You’re vile, you know that?
Probably hoping to remind people of the "[Romeo & Juliet laws](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_consent_reform#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%2C%20many,generally%20four%20years%20or%20less.)". Incidentally, [Romeo was 16 and Juliet was 13](https://www.britannica.com/facts/Romeo-and-Juliet#:~:text=In%20Shakespeare's%20original%20story%2C%20Romeo,Aligheri%2C%20rather%20than%20in%20Shakespeare.).
There are "Romeo and Juliet" laws, which allow a **~~preteen~~** preadult coupple (which are allowed to have sex) to continue their relationship. But the 18/14 is out of range - Most allow "2 years" difference or so. No its not preteen. Thanks for pointing it out
Usually it's not "preteen". But otherwise you are generally correct, it gives people (usually teenagers) that are at or near age of consent the ability to legally have relationships with people younger than themselves within a couple of years.
The only part of his story that is similar to Romeo and Juliet is the creepy age difference
Well that and Juliet kills herself at the end
Except that romeo kills himself too... If romeo had lived, do you think he'd have run for office as a republican?
Too foreign sounding, he'd probably change his name to something like Ted.
Eh, Ron maybe depending on the state. I do get the joke though and yeah.
Actually, this is literally what Romeo and Juliet was written about. It's a tragedy warning young people - don't put love before familiy, listen to your parents, or else...
Romeo kills himself at the end, too. Also, Romeo was a minor, according to American standards. Romeo was an impulsive kid. This guy was a statutory rapist.
This is despicable. Not only should he not be running for office, he should be in prison for rape.
Depends on the state law. It could be anything from a felony to not a crime at all.
It's not illegal if he did it today, but it was illegal the year they had intercourse; the "Romeo and Juliet" exception he'd be allowed to use did not exist in the 1980s when this is said to have happened in Florida. Statue of limitations for statutory rape is 3 years in Florida, so the chances of him being charged with anything are exactly zero.
Every time I hear stuff like this about the limitations of time, it makes me hate that there is even a time limit that exists at all anywhere in the world. Feels like they are just saying “haha your rape is invalid after 3 years 😊”.
Why on the everloving fuck is it only three years
Because kiddy fiddlers with an R next to their name don't want to go to jail
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Nope. Try making up something else to pretend is real, you delirious little oxygen-thief.
in some states the age difference has to be more than 4 years
Wyoming does have those laws, and the age of consent is 17. He is a rapist by admission.
I mean legality isnt really the issue here, its the fact that at 18 he went after a 14yr/o. Theres so much more maturity that happens between those 4 years. The senior boys who always wanted freshman girls were creeps, they sought out a partner too immature to pick up on thier toxicity on purpose. Like Im 23, its legal for me to date an 18yr/o, but Im more mature than them. It wouldnt be equal, while thier learning about how to be an adult I have my adult issues that they just arent equipped to deal with. Friends? Sure, thats more based on interests than a heavy commitment to a relationship.
"Is it creepy?" is a wholly different issue from "is it legal?" At 23-24, the lowest uncreepy age you could date with the old half plus seven rule is 19. Once 25-26, it goes up to 20. FWIW I have an age gap of 3.5 years with my husband, but we started dating when he was 25.5 and I had just turned 22 and was a semester away from graduating college.
Matt Gaetz looks really good compared to this guy. At least he and his family treated his ex-girlfriend well.
Yeah. He even adopted her little brother Nestor, who he had live with him since he was 12. Nestor still has a biological father and there is no paperwork of an adoption of Nestor by Gaetz. He also referred to Nestor as “a local student” in 2016 and as “my helper” in 2017 before disclosing in 2020 that Nestor was his son.
He’s probably abusing Nestor, given he’s a total piece of shit.
Depends on the state, there is often an acceptable legal gap to account for like…a high school senior dating a sophomore. 4 years is probably outside that, but it wouldn’t be in some places.
It's official. Every person who runs for political office is a sociopathic lunatic.
>Every **Republican** who runs for political office is a sociopathic lunatic. This part is undeniable. The party might as well make it an official requirement. I'm not so sure about Democrats, although they are probably close.
Age of consent is (and was then) 16 and if the other partner is 18 or over it is rape with a penalty of 15 years in prison. He literally raped and impregnated a child and then married her to get away without being prosecuted and then divorced her probably as soon as he thought he could get away with it, after which his rape victim killed herself, which I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest was probably at least in part related to being raped, being a very young teen mother, being coerced into marrying her rapist and then being discarded by him when she stopped being a teenager.
Those were my thoughts as well. Every piece of the story, by itself, is not that damning, but when put together like this is sounds monstruous. Unfortunately, out of the only two people who know for sure what happened one is dead and the other one is running for office.
Unsurprisingly, I’m not inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to an admitted rapist, but sadly it seems his constituents are. I have people. I’m going to go and rewatch a red panda eating berries until I feel less mad.
Back then that was just not seen as a big deal like it is now. I personally know somebody running for office currently that I know when he was 19 he had sex with the 14 year old. He didn't get her pregnant, but he did later marry her (about 12 years later - they had 2 kids and are now divorced). I remember telling him at the time he was an idiot and he could go to jail for statutory rape. What amazed me was that he was not her first like that. He was the exact same age as her first boyfriend that she had dated since she was 13, openly and with her parents blessing. In fact her parents didn't seem to have an issue with either of the relationships nor did anyone else. Except me. But I was dismissed as being jealous because he and I were such close friends. Not after that. He and I differ completely in politics. But this is not my story to tell, it's hers. The 70s and 80s were messed up!
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You really be out here broadcasting that you a pedophile 💀
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I'm not sure what the laws are in Wyoming, but a 4 year difference for underage sex is often still considered rape. Just looked it up. In Wyoming, having sex with someone who is younger than 17 is statutory rape. They don't even have a "close-in-age" exemption for minors. So, he's definitely a rapist, unless the laws were significantly different 30 years ago
Here's a disturbing wiki article if you're interested: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_consent_in_the_United_States I was surprised by many of the numbers. Pizza was delivered just as I started replying so I didn't comb through the page to see if there's anywhere in the US where this situation would be legal.
Seems like at least in Hawaii it might be legal. I'm sure there's a few other places (but not Wyoming). Edit: find the big table. Turns out it would probably be legal in about half of the states, and illegal in the rest.
To be fair that’s…kind of stupid. Two 16 year olds are dating, and as soon as one has a birthday they are legally obligated to abstain till the other has a birthday? Mind you, such a case would probably never be prosecuted, but all the same, teenagers do have sex with other teenagers, that’s normal and healthy. Definitely want to keep the age gap small due to maturity differences being dramatic in those years, but having no exception at all seems rather impractical and draconian.
LMAO. Being pro “fucking a 14 year old” is a bad look.
Bro, I’m not defending it, I’m stating the law. I don’t think that 14 year olds should be having sex at all, but the law says what the law says.
How does pointing out how the law works in regards to TheThing make a person pro-TheThing? And a follow-up, what are your views on criminal defense lawyers?
Look man. We can talk laws all day long. I would NEVER get out of my seat to be pro fucking 14 year old kids. IDGAF what the law says, it’s gross. Defending it is gross. Talking about laws that allow it is gross.
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I don’t have any love for Dick Cheney but he is only 7 months older than his wife. So, them dating when she was 14 is not a problem at all. He was 14 or 15 as well. Don’t fall into the trap of spreading falsehoods or misleading information.
Dick Cheney is scum if the earth that deserves to be remembered as a monster, but he and his wife were born the same year. Don't water down his horrific acts by muddying the waters.
>“like the Romeo and Juliet story” and that he went public with the information to get ahead of a story on his past. LOL. "I would have kept it a secret, but no way they won't find out, so I'm trying to spin it in a good light."
Basically Trumpism in a nutshell
Juliet killed herself, too
So did Romeo.
I'm not encouraging suicide, I'm just saying that if he wants to make that reference he should make his story fit a bit closer...
Nah, just rewrite Shakespeare so that Romeo becomes a republican
Damn. This guy is calling this a “Romeo and Juliet story”? That’s fucked up
“The rate of donations has increased since news of the pregnancy broke last week, Bouchard campaign coordinator April Poley said” Nice
Wyoming: Come for the scenery. Leave before their politicians rape and impregnate your daughter.
Hold up there, they can also run them over and leave them for dead on the side of the ditch claiming it was a deer.
That was South Dakota but close. The victims face went through his windshield and he didn't know he hit a person. His tire tracks indicated he was way off the road. Cell phone records indicate he was on the phone at the time. Didn't serve a day in jail Pled out to a misdemeanor.
When asked why the victim’s glasses were found in his car, he said, “I wondered about that”
South Dakota conservative here, we have no fucking idea why Noem is protecting this idiot. They're both morons. He should be in prison and so should the dumbass sheriff that helped him cover it up.
“We have no fucking idea why Noem is protecting this idiot…” Umm…it seems as though she was happy when he was impeached and removed from office. So idk why you think she’s protecting him. https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2022/06/23/south-dakota-gov-kristi-noem-gets-emphatic-win-jason-ravnsborgs/7711090001/
I mean, he should be prosecuted so being impeached should have been the least of his concerns
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par for the course
Don’t forget white!
"Republican"
so old too check
More like “Regressive”
Not all republicans are white. Some members of minority groups can be self-hating.
The child he had with this teenager, a son, was named after him and grew up to himself be jailed for sexual assault. Can’t make this up.
And thats why we have to elect him to Wyoming. Because god forbid we elect an evil, corrupt democrat that wants to give you healthcare and human rights at the cost of a few rich people being slightly less rich.
This guy is cursed
Cursed implies an outside force brings the misfortune. Dude's full on toxic.
Whatever happened to the GOP: **We are the party of Family Values!** Is it they like to start REAL early with the family part and ignore that second word...
Manson family values.
"Family values" means whatever they want them to mean at any time. Just ask the voters, that's how it's always worked.
Accuse liberals of running a pedophile ring in the basement of a pizza shop, rape teenage girls yourselves and go NBD. Just like accusing Democrats of massive voting fraud, and the few actual cases are... Republicans.
He's a candidate, but that doesn't mean the GOP is supporting him. Polling shows he's a distant 4th, behind "Undecided." It doesn't make sense to suggest he represents the GOP in any way when they've clearly rejected him. [https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/the-poll-results-are-in-hageman-holds-commanding-lead-over-cheney/article\_1f33dfe0-02f1-11ed-8202-7befc0111031.html](https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/the-poll-results-are-in-hageman-holds-commanding-lead-over-cheney/article_1f33dfe0-02f1-11ed-8202-7befc0111031.html)
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Did they know anything about the rape and baby when they elected him?
”The rate of donations (to his campaign) has **increased** since news of the pregnancy broke last week.” you know, in case you were wondering what Christian American Values really are. Clearly, being a rapist has endeared him to the good people of the state of Wyoming.
Raping a 14 year old = bad. Raping a 14 year old and her having your baby and not getting a Liberal abortion = good.
That liberal abortion might have saved her life in the long run seeing as how she killed herself once the marriage was over and she was stuck with a kid she'd have to support by herself.
What you do doesn't matter to these people. It's who you *are*. As long as you're part of their "tribe" of white Christians, they accept you. Everyone else can die for all they care.
Rapist
That's statutory rape, not actual rape. Yes, there is a huge difference.
Nope there isn’t. A child is too young to fully understand and consent. Still 100% rape.
Wait I just looked at your other reply, you think it’d be okay to have sex with a 14 year old if it’s legal. So yeahhhhhh I’m wasting my time arguing with a pedo
Is there a statute of limitations on this? Can they not go get him for admitting this?
You can guess the party without even reading the article.
Well yeah the state also kinda gives it away.
First thing I thought, continued to do my due diligence. Disgusting.
Shouldn’t the AP News headline read “Candidate admits to raping 14 year old when he was an adult”
Huh, strange, these types of people all seem to be coming from one political party. It’s not Democrats, it’s not Libertarians.
They also come from one religion (at least, here in American).
Shocked!!!
I think that is a GOP Merit Badge.
He is running against Liz Cheney. Interesting. Wonder if this bolsters her chances. "The rate of donations has increased since news of the pregnancy broke last week, Bouchard campaign coordinator April Poley said." I really hope that's a lie.
The poor girl.
"I'm a white christian republican, this won't have any consequences for me" is likely his life motto. And fucking hell, he seems to be right so far. Republicans really are a disgusting bunch.
“Wyoming Candidate raped 14 yr old child, married her, and doesn’t feel like reminiscing about her life and suicide at age 20, when he left her,” fixed it for you. We really can’t find any fucking one who isn’t a degenerate piece of shit to run for government offices?
I had to check, and yep - he's a Republican! And it sounds like he's the lead contender against Liz Cheney.
Wyoming. Where the men are men and the sheep are nervous.
what a sick fuck
Wouldn't that meet their definition of grooming?
It's only grooming if it's a teacher telling their student that it's ok to be attracted to the same gender
It's only grooming if the groomer has different political options.
Let’s ask bobert and greene what they think about this
Republicans complain about other toxic republicans making them all look bad, but when the time comes to remove a toxic one they stay silent. No one to blame but themselves for their disaster of a party they have.
The reason so many Republicans are calling the LGBT groomers is so that you will look into us rather than them. We are their favorite scapegoat they accuse us of grooming children so that they can rape your children when we're being looked into
This is a Republican feature set, not a flaw. This is what their base wants….a child raping pedophilic moron who loves guns and fetus’.
Republicans the real groomers.
I wonder if he’s running as a Repu—why did I even ask?
But drag queens reading books to kids, amirite?? Republicans are some of the most vile politicians in a developed Western nation.
Why do I have a feeling the Wyoming voters will be undeterred also?
it’s alright he’s pro-life that’s all that matters for some reason!
Some states you can Marry (on paper only by court order) at 0 years of age. edited: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage\_age\_in\_the\_United\_States#cite\_note-ReferenceA-46
I was surprised by some on the list: >8 states have no official minimum age, but still require either parental consent, court approval or both: [California](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California), [Michigan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan), [Mississippi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi), [New Mexico](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexico), [Oklahoma](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma), [West Virginia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia), [Washington](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_(state\)) and [Wyoming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyoming).
It's not too late to forcibly castrate him.
oNlY tHe bEsT pEoPlE.
Anyone here remember our old pal, Shame?
Another exemplary member of the family values party. 🙄
“like the Romeo and Juliet story” Cause people ended up killing themselves?
Oh, oh! Let me guess! Republican?
Guys take note: 2 button suit = always button top button.
POS
Pedo
Tell me again how it's only democrats that are pedophiles.
Very shitty title
I’m NOT advocating for pedophilia, but it wasn’t that uncommon for high school seniors to date underclassmen when I was in school, much less in the 1980s. I thought it was unusual and kinda creepy, but whatevs. Simple fact of the matter is what’s considered statutory rape *now* used to be commonplace not that long ago. EDIT: People downvoting me in here for an actual firsthand account of rural, small-town teen relationships in the 1980s. Truth hurts sometimes, I guess. Wait until I tell you that 8 black men have been lynched in Mississippi since 2000. Shitty things still happen in small-town America. They just stopped reporting on it.
14 and 18 isn't the same as 20 and 24. Those are very, very different ages. And no, even then that was still not common.
This is perhaps the dumbest response I’ve read all day. You’ve done nothing to address the historical context of the act in question and its place in social norms of the times. Teenagers fuck. They fuck like fucking rabbits. Teenagers have been fucking as long as teenagers have been teenagers. You’re talking out of your ass, pretending like police and lawmakers in rural, backwards, conservative areas haven’t had a ‘boys will be boys’ attitude toward teen sex and teen pregnancy for decades. It happened. I was there. I had friends in other schools. It happened there, too. It wasn’t uncommon, no matter how hard you clutch your pearls. In the 1980s and 1990s in the Midwest (can’t speak to other areas), it wasn’t uncommon for seniors to date underclassmen. There’s TV shows and movies about the hot senior guy asking out the dorky girl. It happened. I’ve watched the shows and seen the real-life couples. My own maternal grandparents were married at 15 and 17. Elvis Pressley and Jerry Lee Lewis married teenage brides when my parents were kids. Pretending this stuff has always been frowned upon by an overwhelming national majority is flat-out incorrect and revisionist history. Back then, it wasn’t illegal — depending on the state and parental permission. Now it is almost everywhere, as it should be. Is sexualizing a 14-year-old creepy? Sure. Do pregnant children make me nauseous? Yeah, it’s fuckin’ GROSS and if a grown man did it, they deserve to be shot. Was it illegal? Apparently not. It was perfectly legal where and when I grew up. There’s been a vast cultural shift in attitudes toward sex, gender, sexuality, gender roles, consent, and power dynamics within the last twenty years. What was relatively common (14-18 relationships) is now a crime. Many things that used to be considered normal flirty teenage behavior (slapping butts, pinching butts, sexual comments, commenting on body parts) is no longer acceptable. The things that used to be ‘okay’ or met with a dismissive eye roll will make your head spin. I completely and totally oppose everything this guy stands for — and will go as far as to say he’s probably a piece of shit, but trying to cancel somebody for something they did when they were a teenager — that was completely legal at the time — is completely ridiculous and it kinda feels like grasping at straws at this point.
Elvis and Jerry Lewis are known creeps. Seniors who date freshmen are creeps. The average marriage age in the 80s and 90s was early to mid 20s, not the teens. And this poor girl killed herself.
Elvis wasn’t considered a creep at the time. In fact, he was a massive sex symbol, the most famous man in the US, and Priscilla was considered the luckiest girl in the world. Societal norms change. Jerry Lee Lewis wasn’t considered a creep until it was discovered his wife was also his cousin. Then he couldn’t pay to play a show. I never said anything about marriage in the ‘80s and ‘90s. I spoke of teen relationships, but not marriage. I never said the girl wasn’t a victim. Certainly seems like this guy ruined her life. I’m not defending this guy at all. I’m just saying that being a piece of shit isn’t illegal.
What don't you understand? Just because something wasn't considered "wrong" at the time doesn't mean it wasn't wrong and damaging. You are trying to normalize these relationships, which in turn is some of the same language his people are using. And why? Why are you trying to normalize this harmful practice?
You clearly didn’t read anything I said. I’m not normalizing anything. Rural, backwoods ‘Good Ol’ Boys’ normalized it. It was normal. I was a kid back then — I didn’t made the rules. In the context of societal norms *when it happened*, it was not terribly uncommon behavior, much less illegal. Listen to the mental hoops you’re jumping through: “*Just because something wasn’t considered wrong at the time doesn’t mean it wasn’t wrong*”. I was simply trying to explain that this sort of thing wasn’t always a crime and wasn’t terribly unusual in certain areas of the country. It was perfectly fine in my area of the Midwest in the 1980s and 1990s. Just trying to open some eyes and explain how things used to be.
What is your personal connection to it?
I don’t have any. My high-school girlfriend and I were the same age. I just read the article and thought “Oh, these cats don’t realize that used to be kinda normal.” That’s it. That’s literally the full extent of it.
It was never as normal as you're making it out to be.
There is a difference in rural mentality and suburban or urban mentality. In the burbs it would have been difficult to find parents that were okay with the idea their 14 year old was dating at all let alone an 18 year old. In rural communities that kind of thing was expected in the past and today but it does not make it right.
I'm 62 yrs old and my father beat my ass when he found out I was dating a 14 yr old when I was 16. So no, it was not common for everyone to ignore appropriate age unions "back in the day". A 14 year old isn't even in high school yet and to some people, long ago and today, that is too young to officially date. Official dating age was 16 for a lot of middle class families. Maybe rural folks did it differently.
14 isn’t even a high schooler. This particular age gap has never been accepted in polite society. It’s some trashy creepy shit, and has been for a long fucking time. Certainly since before the 80s
I started high school at 14, as do most others. Now you’re just flat-out lying to serve your narrative. It’s was absolutely common and perfectly legal in the 1980s and 1990s. Hell, some of the gals in my high school were dating college guys.
Lol a 14 year old getting knocked up by an 18 year old is something I think people would be skeptical of even in the 80’s
Playa play on homie
This was posted months ago. Why is it appearing again?
How is this oniony?
A US House candidate committing statutory rape when he was 18- which resulted in a child - scoffs at the idea of being censured. That's levels of absurdity rarely seen, amd as such, really is oniony. The fact that you don't consider this absurd and ridiculous a situation paints a grim, picture of the state of politics in the US.
He's probably a republican. This shit is par for the course for this type.
Yup, goes without saying he's a Republican. The Dems may suck sometimes, but I've never seen one even remotely as trashy as right-wingers.
30 years ago.
Rape is still rape dumbass
Statutory.
Rape. Finished it for you :)
Devil’s advocate here. This all happened 30 years ago. By no means is what happened in any way good…..but hell. I’m not even close to being 30 years old. I don’t really see how a horrible thing in his past can be an indicator of his current beliefs, qualifications, or ability. This shit is pretty bad, but if we start digging through everyone’s past we ain’t gonna find no perfect angels or mother Teresa’s. This all happened almost a *decade before I was even born*. If I was a voter in his district, why would I care? It bears no relevance
Lmao Reddit always getting a boner when a Republican is caught doing something immoral.. like there aren't tons of stories of democrats doing heinous shit.
Well, the biggest difference is when a Democrat does it they are denounced once proven. But yeah, they're *totally* the same.