AGE OF CONSENT: David Gillis replies to Philip Jenkins

[David Gillis is a tax attorney in New York City.]

In his piece regarding the age of consent, Philip Jenkins predicts that when the Goodridge decision becomes effective this spring, gays and lesbians in Massachusetts will be subject to the same age of consent laws as other intended brides and grooms, which (according to his post) allow entry into
marriage at age 18 or, with a parental consent or a judge's permission, at
age 14. Jenkins concludes, "So how does that constitutional amendment sound right now?"

For Jenkins' concluding remark to make sense, Jenkins must assume that readers of his post will be so shocked at the prospect of very young gay couples, or gay couples with significant age differences, falling in love and wanting to marry that the need for a constitutional amendment will be self-evident. I don't get it. Surely getting married at 18 is a bad idea for almost anyone, and the law wisely provides that those younger than 18 need parental permission or a judge's consent.

But what would suggest that the generally bad decision to marry at such a
young age would be worse for a gay person than a straight person? Jenkins offers no explanation, but instead relies entirely on coded message to fill in the essential gap in his argument: inviting the reader's presumed
revulsion at the very idea of young gays behaving no more impetuously than young straights. Jenkins' main objective seems to be to raise readers' ire at the specter of gay men preying on boys. He tries to inoculate himself
against the ugliness of this point by stating, "For decades, debates over homosexuality were bedeviled by the myth that gay men were pedophiles, an idea that is contradicted by all available evidence. Critics understandably
don't want to be attacked for recycling bigoted stereotypes." So if the
stereotypes are contradicted by "all the available evidence," what is the problem? Why would age differences among gay newlyweds be more troubling than age differences among straight newlyweds? Again, Jenkins' coded speech raises these questions without offering any answers at all, just an invitation to readers' visceral reactions.
posted by Eve at 2:38 PM VOTE

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