REMOVE LETOURNEAU FROM SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY

Mary Kay Letourneau still has to register as a sex offender because she had sex with a 13-year old student; even though she served 7-1/2 years in prison, bore him two daughters, and has been married to him for 10 years

In 1996, Mary Kay Letourneau, a 34-year-old married Seattle teacher and mother of four, got busted for having sex with a 13-year old student. She was put on probation and ordered not to have any contact the boy, Vili Fualaau. She was sent to prison after getting caught with him again. She gave birth to their love-child while in prison. She served 7-1/2 years. Mary Kay, now 53, and Vili, now 31, have been married for 10 years and are the parents of two teen-age daughters. Alas, Mary Kay is still required to register as a sex offender.

The story of Letourneau’s affair with Vili Fualaau was sensationalized by the media in a frenzy not often seen. That was in 1996, this is now. Hardly a day goes by now without some female teacher getting busted somewhere for having sex with one or more of her students. Most of these teachers, like Mary Kay, are married with children. Unlike with Mary Kay, their ‘victims’ are not 13, but rather 15-17. The teacher-student sex affairs are so frequent that in most cases they receive only local news coverage.

Friday night I watched an ABC-TV Barbara Walters special. During the hour-long program, Walters not only interviewed Mary Kay Letourneau Fualaau and her husband Vili Fualaau, but she was also able to talk to their daughters. On their 10th anniversary, the couple appear to happily married and their teen-age daughters appear to be happy and well adjusted. Given all that, why in the hell is Mary Kay still required to register as a sex offender?

The sex offender registration laws are primarily designed to protect children from sexual predators and women from rapists. Weenie wavers are also included. So are boys who get caught diddling underage girls. I cannot understand why in the world a man would have to be placed on a sex offender registry because he had a consensual sexual relationship with his underage sweetheart when he was 16. What threat does he pose to anyone?

Mary Kay has been punished with a prison term for her misdeed. She has been married to her victim for 10 years and they have been raising two well-adjusted teenagers. Under these circumstances, if there is any logical reason for her to have to register as a sex offender, I’ll eat my beloved John Deere cap.

Mary Kay plans to apply for removal from the sex offender registration list. While I strongly disapprove of her affair with a 13-year-old boy, considering that she was punished with a prison term and has now been happily married for 10 years, I firmly believe that justice demands she be removed from the sex offender registry.