French Kiss

Law to make tongue kissing minors a sex offense State

legislators passed a law Saturday that would require adults who French kiss a child younger than 13 to register as a sex offender Those convicted of tongue-kissing a child would be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

The House of Delegates passed the legislation 96-1 and the Senate 39-0 The bill now heads to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, who said he supports the legislation. Delegate Riley Ingram, R-Hopewell, introduced the bill on behalf of a woman whose 10-year-old daughter was French-kissed by the 62-year-old husband of her babysitter.

The only crime prosecutors could charge the man with was contributing to the delinquency of a minor, which did not require that he register as a sex offender. Ingram and other members of the House fought to make the crime a felony, but later gave in to senators who thought that classifying it as a felony was too harsh.

Delegate Phillip Hamilton, R-Newport News, cast the lone nay vote, refusing to back down from his belief that the crime should be a felony. "I think that type of behavior is so egregious it warrants a felony," Hamilton said. Ingram said he was satisfied that a conviction would land someone on the sex offender registry.

(Published by CNN News March 10, 2008)