Between November of 1995 and April of 1996, the most powerful and admired man in the United States, former President Bill Clinton, admitted to having oral sex in the Oval Office and adjoining rooms in the West Wing with Monica Lewinsky while she worked at the White House. While under oath on January 26, 1998, former President Clinton denied having “a sexual affair” or “a sexual relationship” with Ms. Lewinsky. His famous quote during a nationally televised White House new conference, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky,” eventually became the basis for Independent Counsel Ken Starr’s attempt to have President Clinton indicted for perjury and a failed attempt for impeachment.
It is important to understand that President Clinton would not have been imprisoned or impeached for his sexual act, even though his role as President is revered, honored and respected; as well as looked up to from school children to grannies. His indictment for a crime and the attempt for impeachment were not because the President eventually admitted to his indiscretion with a woman who was not his wife, but rather that he “lied” or for his instance of perjury to a federal grand jury.
Now for your consideration, the case that has gripped the country and even the world --- Genarlow Wilson who in 2003, when he was 17 years old, had consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl at a New Year’s Eve party. For that crime, a jury in Georgia found Wilson guilty of aggravated child molestation and he was sentenced for a mandatory 10 years in prison because of a law on the books in Georgia. If he had instead had sexual intercourse with the teen, Wilson would have fallen under Georgia’s “Romeo & Juliet” exception. But under the law in 2003, oral sex for teens still constituted aggravated child molestation and carried a mandatory sentence, plus listing on the sex offender registry. That law has since been changed (due in part to Wilson’s conviction) to close that loophole.
Genarlow, an African-American, who was an honor student, standout football athlete and homecoming king at the time, has served more than 28 months. The case has drawn international attention and received cries of injustice from civil rights leaders, as well as former President Jimmy Carter, raising questions about the role of race in the justice system.
Even though recently a judge ordered Genarlow released from prison, saying the young man’s 10-year sentence for consensual sex between teens was a “grave miscarriage of justice,” Georgia’s attorney general, Thurbert Baker, said Wilson wasn’t going to be released because the state had made an appeal before the Georgia Supreme Court (which had already ruled against Wilson once.) The outcome is yet to be seen.
I am in no way condoning any type of premarital sexual action or experience, even though it is consensual, but the church must also cry against injustice in the land. On one hand, the President of the United States engages in a sexual act (with a consenting adult) and nothing is done; while on the other hand two teenagers engaging in the same type of sexual act results with one convicted with a mandatory sentence of 10 years behind bars, as well as being listed on the sex offender registry. Should we, as Christians, turn our heads and just decry the system or take an active role that can help overturn a sentence that is clearly not on par with the crime? What’s your response or better yet, WWJD?