A few weeks ago, I posted some info about Genarlow Wilson, the 17-year-old young man who was convicted of child molestation for having consensual oral sex with a 15 year old girl. A few moments ago, I received the following communication from his lawyer:

On March 30, 2006 the Georgia General Assembly passed a strong Romeo and Juliet law which says that teens cannot be prosecuted for a felony or be required to register as sexual offenders for teenage consensual sexual acts.

Specifically when a teen is 14 or 15 and engages in any consensual sexual act with someone within four years of age and no older than 18 years of age, the older teen can only be charged with a misdemeanor and is not required to register as a sexual offender. If the sexual act is sodomy and it is consensual then the covered ages is 13, 14, or 15 that engages in consensual oral sex with another teen within four years of age and no older than 18 years of age.The age differential for oral sex was done because of the CDC study showing the high numbers of 13 year olds engaging in oral sex and the desire not to trigger the possibility of 17 year olds receiving the new 25 year minimum in prison for that act.

The bill is now awaiting the Governor’s signature and when signed by him, goes into effect on July 1, 2006. This provision is part of an entire law rewriting the sex offender laws in Georgia. Had this law been in effect when Genarlow Wilson was arrested, or had been done after the Marcus Dixon case, Genarlow would not now be in jail.

Genarlow and his mother are overjoyed that no one else in Georgia will have to know their pain. Meantime, the legal fight goes on for Genarlow Wilson. We await the decision of the Georgia Court of Appeals and I am doing everything I can to release him.

NFL owners voted Wednesday to limit touchdown celebrations next season, deciding that they were excessive and detracted from the team concept. Stunts like Terrell Owens pulling a pen out of his sock to sign autographs and Chad Johnson proposing to a cheerleader seemed to push the owners over the top, as they voted 29-3 at the team meetings to limit celebrations to spiking the ball, spinning the ball, and dunking it over the goalpost crossbar.

As a casual NFL fan, I’m extremely disappointed by the decision. One of the main reasons that I watch ESPN SportsCenter on Monday morning is to see the crazy stunts that the league’s most creative players perform. While I agree that it’s gotten somewhat out of hand, with routine two-yard pickups treated like OJ Simpson slashes through the middle (no jokes), and seldom-used backups dancing in the end zone during garbage time like they’ve just won the Super Bowl. Still, I’m willing to put up with that stuff in order to see what T.O. would do after scoring his first Dallas Cowboy touchdown against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Wow. Time is a mufucka….

According to Fox News, there was a mini-controversy between Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and the Capitol Police. Apparently, McKinney was walking into the building and went around the metal detector, which is customary for lawmakers. The police officer apparently did not recognize McKinney and asked her to stop and walk through the metal detector. McKinney ignored the officer’s requests more than once and the officer placed his hand on McKinney’s shoulder. McKinney responded by turning around and hitting the officer with her cell phone. She later released this statement:

I was urgently trying to get to an important meeting on time to fulfill my obligations to my constituents. Unfortunately, the police officer did not recognize me as a member of Congress and a confrontation ensued. I did not have on my congressional pin but showed the police officer my congressional ID. I know that Capitol Hill Police are securing our safety, that of thousands of others, and I appreciate the work that they do. I deeply regret that the incident occurred,” she said in a statement.

As a young Black man working in university, I am ALWAYS stopped and asked for ID. While I realize that I am supposed to have work ID around my neck at all times, I also recognize the differential treatment that I receive in relationship to my white colleagues who also don’t wear theirs. Unfortunately, I’m either too busy or too frustrated to explain this to the security guard, who ends up seeing me as the guy with the chip on his shoulder.

In some ways, this story is much ado about nothing. Still, it reminds us of the little dilemmas that Black people face daily.

It’s that time again! In what has become a spring tradition, BET is returning our collective attention to the “down low” phenomenon with yet another show dedicated to this “crisis.” In spite of the work of brilliant scholars and activists such as Keith Boykin, who wrote the incredibly important “Beyond the Down Low” in response to JL King’s “On The Down Low”, many of us still adhere to a misguided set of beliefs about Black male sexuality. Instead developing a more nuanced and complicated set of understandings about what it means to be male or straight or gay, we have become obsessed with the most sensationalist, reductive, and ultimately inaccurate information available. Some of this misinformation includes: DL men are gay but won’t admit it, only Black men are on the DL, the DL is a new phenomenon, and the DL is making Black women the largest group of AIDS casualties in the world.