robinturner | Separating the Sheep From the Kids

I am pleased to hear that Jeffrey Haynes, who was convicted of having sex with a sheep, will not be put on the sexual offenders list. I can't say that I approve of his action, especially since it seems the sheep was injured in the process (which was how they caught him: the police were suspicious and did a DNA test). However, the fellow is already serving a prison sentence of 30 months to 20 years, which strikes me as barbaric, not to mention hopelessly vague. The sentencing judge also decided that Haynes should register as a sex offender, but this was overturned on appeal. Had Haynes registered, he would have been banned from going anywhere near schools, playgrounds or parks—but not, it appears, fields. The reasoning, if you can call it that, seems to be that anyone whose sexual tastes are a little out of the ordinary is a potential child molester. It's a rather extreme example of Thomistic sexual teleology mixed with the classic slippery slope fallacy: the purpose of sexual intercourse is the production of children within marriage; therefore, any sexual activity not directed to this end can lead you through a succession of perverted behaviours all the way down to pederasty. (Actually I can't remember where in the scale of sins Thomas Aquinas put bestiality; I know it was worse than adultery, but I can't remember if it was as bad as masturbation.)

I could here get on my soapbox and rant about how this mindset is a threat to all of us: gay, straight, transgendered, transpecied etc. etc. But instead I will leave you with an anecdote about Frederick the Great. One day, the stern Prussian monarch was inspecting his cavalry, and saw a man in the stocks. When he asked what the man was doing there, a blushing officer replied: "Your majesty, he was found committing an unnatural act with his horse." The king answered: "Then don't put him in the stocks; put him in the infantry!"