Same-sex marriage is no longer banned in Florida, but decades of "between a man and a woman" legal language is still causing problems.
There are lots of reasons to be angry when you see groups writing laws to push their own selfish agenda: The unfairness, the bigotry, the "we know better" attitude.
What always got me, though, was the way such acts twist the laws to their own ends. I've always been a believer in "equal justice" as being the bedrock of a strong society (silly me). Good, bad, or rotten, a consistent application of the law (same impact, same results, same punishment) is something one should expect.
But this, my friends, is one of those concrete examples where it causes unexpected consequences...and for the "law and order" types who are typically behind these turns, it puts them into a legal corner.
Basically, in 2011 a man is accused of not notifying his partner that he has HIV before they had sex (in this, I mean the everybody-would-call-it-sex meaning). Florida law requires that if you have HIV, you have to tell your potential partner or you are guilty of a crime.
But, for years, Florida has kept inserting "between a man and a woman" language into its statues (gee, I wonder why?) Since the accused was having relations with another man, it's being argued that by Florida's definition of "sex", he did not violate the law.
Absurd legal wrangling ensues...
http://www.theguardian.com/...