Sex

There is a movement here in the Massachusetts legislature to develop legislation which will enable a board to decide whether a sex offender is more dangerous than designated on the Sex Offender Registry. This means that a person convicted of a sexual offense can gradually be publicly listed as a most heinous sex offender without another trial and actual proof of his/her guilt. A board, not a jury, would have the power to make a person more of a social outcast whose scarlet letter would be posted for all potential neighbors, landlords or employers to see on the Web.

Massachusetts has a reputation of being a Liberal state. We have legal gay marriage, for example. However, in reaction to the HIV epidemic, all Massachusetts cities launched an attack on gay male entertainment venues. Most, with the exception of the most conservative, were shut down. The message here in Massachusetts to gay men has evolved into: "Get married and have the same repressed sexual lives that we heterosexuals have!" Unfortunately, many gay men are more than eager to slam the closet door on their sexual natures in exchange for social acceptability.

The Sex Offender Registry has been used to persecute gay men who have not chosen to submit to the sexual oppression of Puritanism or Roman Catholicism. It can be used to persecute anyone who is deemed sexually "indecent". "Indecent" is a broad term which can be applied to many forms of common sexual expression.  Enabling an appointed board to administer stricter punishment on sex offenders who have already been convicted of sex crimes and stigmatized is medieval, not progressive. 

I abhor all forms of aggressive violence. Sexual violation of a person's right to peaceful existence is particularly abhorrent to me. Rapists are sick predators, who should be required to undergo the most rigorous medical treatment and subsequent vigilance by the justice system. However, it is my understanding that there are people on the Sex Offender Registry in Massachusetts who were persecuted and stigmatized for consensual sex or no actual sexual behavior at all. This is just wrong.

I would suggest that the Massachusetts legislators occupy their time devising a Violent Crimes Registry for the Web. I think it would make sense for bullies, violent drunks, spouse abusers, child abusers and their like to have their pictures up on the Web with details of their deeds. If the violent crime is sexual in nature, then it would be included. 

I would also suggest that the legislators set up a White-Collar Crime Registry with the same availability to the public. Frauds, grifters, crooked cops, crooked politicians, mafia lawyers, bogus insurance scammers, bogus investment counselors. Their pictures could also be displayed with details beneath. This would be especially useful during election campaigns.