Yesterday the Georgia Supreme Court struck down a 170-year-old law that made it a crime for unmarried people to have sex. rnrn
The ruling came in the case of a 16-year-old boy discovered having sex with his girlfriend in the bedroom of her home. The young woman's mother made the discovery, then reported the incident to the girl's probation officer, who filed fornication charges against the boy.rnrn
Following his conviction, Jesse McClure, now 17, was ordered to pay a fine and write an essay explaining why he should not have had sex. He wrote that it wasn't the court's business. rnrn
"Invading personal privacy just isn't right," McClure said Monday. "It now goes that way for everybody."rnrn
"Our opinion simply affirms that ... the government may not reach into the bedroom of a private residence and criminalize the private, noncommercial, consensual sexual acts of two persons legally capable of consenting to those acts," Chief Justice Norman Fletcher wrote.rnrn
Under Georgia law, the age of consent is 16. rn rn
Fornication laws remain on the books in about 10 states and the District of Columbia. Courts have struck down such statutes in Florida, Virginia and New Jersey. rn rn
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