Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 5, 1993 TAG: 9306050099
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Commission members said Friday they would likely recommend removing the seduction statute from Virginia law.
"I practically did backflips here when I read this opinion, ' said Dana Schrad, legal counsel for the State Crime Commission of Judge Kenneth Devore's ruling.
A subcommittee of Lt. Gov. Don Beyer's task force studying sexual abuse had concluded the same thing as Devore: The seduction law was sexist, archaic and unconstitutional.The subcommittee had drafted a report recommending the General Assembly repeal the seduction statute. When Floyd County prosecutor Gino Williams charged Henry County preacher Elwood Gallimore in February with violating the law, the commission decided to withhold its recommendation.
"What we did not want to do was pull the rug out from underneath an ongoing investigation," said state Del. Jay DeBoer, D-Petersburg, a member of the Beyer Commission.
Williams said he would likely have some recommendations for the Beyer Commission after the Gallimore case ends.
The seduction law dates from 1887, when the all-male General Assembly thought it necessary to keep chaste women from being seduced by false promises of marriage by smooth-talking men.
As Devore wrote in his opinion, the law attempted to force the man to the altar by making a subsequent marriage a complete defense against prosecution.
"The law only applied to virgins as loss of virginity was considered a serious impediment to marriage," Devore said, in explaining the thinking in 19th-century Virginia. "It was assumed that a woman who was not married would not be able to support herself."
Ironically, Gallimore, 44, preaches that a man can practice polygamy as long as he can afford to support his wives. Gallimore, legally married 26 years, took 16-year-old Sabrina Simpkins as his second wife in November.
Though the court has forbidden Gallimore and Simpkins to live together until the court case is resolved, Gallimore said Friday he is supporting the Floyd County High School junior.
"That's why now I have bought her a car and I give her money every week," Gallimore said.
Still, Schrad said the lifestyle of Gallimore's followers is different than that of the much of the rest of society. She commended Devore's ruling that the seduction law is "gender-based," and therefore unconstitutional because it does not treat both sexes equally.
"Treating women as the more vulnerable sex, and saying that as a society we have to protect them from men," Schrad said, "as a professional woman, I found that this was offensive."
DeBoer also said the seduction statute was written on the premise that women were "second-rate thinkers," who were gullible and easily swayed.
DeBoer said the relationship between Gallimore and Simpkins bothered him, but the seduction law was not the statute under which Gallimore should be prosecuted.
"It disturbs me very much," he said, "but this statute dealt less with the sexual relations than the promise of marriage."
by CNB