Lawmaker apologizes for comments on spousal rape
A Utah lawmaker apologized Wednesday for questioning whether a man who has sex with his unconscious spouse should be charged with rape.
Republican state Rep. Brian Greene said in a statement he supports a bill to make it clear that an unconscious person can't consent to sex but was worried about unintended consequences of the measure.
On Tuesday, Greene rocked victims' advocates with his discussion of consent during debate on the bill.
"If an individual has sex with their wife while she is unconscious ... a prosecutor could then charge that spouse with rape, theoretically," Greene said, according to the The Salt Lake Tribune. "That makes sense in a first-date scenario, but to me, not where people have a history of years of sexual activity."
Greene did not immediately return a call for comment, but Holly Mullen, director of the Rape Recovery Center, told USA TODAY she had not expected a debate.
"I was shocked," Mullen said. "He's a lawyer, you think he would know better. He just went off on a tangent. But with the kind of work we do, we realize that so many people don't understand this issue."
Victims' advocates are pressing for rules to make clear that sex without consent constitutes rape. Greene supported the bill in committee — it passed unanimously Tuesday. But Mullen said she was concerned because Greene also said the bill might need some changes before the full House. That could come later this week.
"We don't know what to expect," she said. We didn't see this coming, even in conservative Utah."
Democratic Rep. Brian King was unwilling to leave a loophole for spousal behavior. The Tribune quoted him as saying that sex with anyone who is unconscious "is rape. Period. End of story. Let's make the statute clear. Let's not dance around it."
Contributing: Associated Press
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/02/04/utah-sex-with-unconscious-spouse-rape/22871057/
| 
