(US) Diplomat: Sex with teens OK in some cultures

MSNBC ^ | 7/10/08 | Staff

[gridlock]

He's asking a judge for leniency, claiming cultural differences

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - An ex-diplomat convicted of having sex with teenage girls in the Congo and Brazil and taping the encounters is asking a judge for leniency, claiming that cultural differences in those countries make sex with girls more acceptable.

Gons G. Nachman, 42, pleaded guilty in April to possessing child pornography after admitting that he had sex with 14- to 17-year-old girls while serving as a consular officer in Brazil and Congo and documenting the encounters in pictures and videos.

(snip)

Prosecutors rejected the notion that Nachman's victims somehow deserve less protection because they were not born or raised in America.

(snip)

In a letter Nachman wrote from jail to the director of the Foreign Service pleading with him to intervene and get the charges dropped, Nachman explained the cultural differences as he sees them.

"In the Congo, women develop quickly, both physically and emotionally, due to the substantial responsibility society places on them from early childhood," Nachman wrote. "In Kinshasa, the vast majority of teenagers are sexually active with men that are substantially older. ... Their main concern is marrying young girls to men with financial stability, a concern dating thousands of years and cutting across cultural lines."

(snip)

[gridlock]

This pervert was doing this while representing the United States of America in our State Department. He should be drawn and quartered, IMHO.

[Chode]

so is bestiality...

[Grizzled Bear]

Am I mistaken in believing some cultures punish criminals with death by impalement? Just asking.

[sinanju]

Ah! But if it was a 42 year-old ex-diplomat from the Congo or Brazil having sex with teenagers over HERE and using the same defense... Well? Would he have a case?

[glock rocks]

Well, it is the State Department.

[donna]

Some info on the judge:

U.S. District Court Judge Gerald Bruce Lee

Lee was nominated to his present position as U.S. District Judge by President Bill Clinton on May 22, 1998, and received his commission on October 1, 1998.

As an attorney, Judge Lee was involved in a number of notable cases. He was one of the first to assert the “battered woman defense” in a murder case in 1978 and his client was acquitted of murder.

[SandRat]

An ex-diplomat convicted of having sex with teenage girls in the Congo and Brazil and taping the encounters is asking a judge for leniency, claiming that cultural differences in those countries make sex with girls more acceptable.

Not for you you pervert! You represent the USA and it's illegal; PERIOD!

[MovementConservative]

What a total creep. Men who go overseas to have sex with children(anyone under 18) should be castrated.

[Lorianne]

Heard this excuse before. A few years ago Hawaii was changing its Age of Consent law from 14 to 16, this excuse was used by many (citing Filipino culture, Fijian culture, Samoan culture, etc).

One state legislator even said that the law would have the unintended consequence on poor girls in that they could not become more financially “upwardly mobile” if they could not consent to sex at the lower age.

Sickening.

[Diogenesis]

U.S. District Court Judge Gerald Bruce Lee
Lee was nominated to his present position as U.S. District Judge by President Bill Clinton on May 22, 1998, and received his commission on October 1, 1998."

BJ: "Send me"

[zerosix]

Certainly Planned Parenthood believe that it’s OK and apparently so does Obama, since he desires no punishment for abortion providers to teens, (or even younger) without notifying law enforcement of “child rape” or even the child’s parents (which in some cases might come from within the family, i.e. step-father, brother or “live-in boyfriend.”)

[guinnessman]

The only thing worse than a pervert is an arrogant pervert.

[MovementConservative]

I think if he were serving as a diplomat, he could claim diplomatic immunity and walk. Sadly.

[cmsgop]

Lifelong Democrat,Figures.....

[soupcon]

Sex with teens is acceptable here, too...as long as it’s 18 and 19.

[decimon]

Gons? I blame his parents for naming him Gons.

[Amerigomag]

Sex with teens is permissible in almost all cultures and legal within almost all geopolitical boundaries....

But that isn't the issue here. The issue is possession of child pornography which is not condoned by American culture or legal in the US.

[JamesP81]

Sex with teens is acceptable here, too...as long as it’s 18 and 19.

Interestingly and surprisingly enough, that depends on what state you're in.

[Finny]

Western, civilized morality rejects this because in truth, Western morality is Christian morality. Not some vague "religious" morality, but specifically: Christianity. You don't have to be Christian to hold that it's indecent for grown men to bed teen-aged girls, but to uphold it you do need to be in a population of some 9,000 generations of Christian dominance in the culture -- i.e., the Western world.

Many good people pshaw Christianity (more accurately, Judeo-Christianity) and thereby God who gave us as workmates and companions, dogs -- which Muslims consider "unclean" in their world where it's legal to marry nine-year-old girls.

Hmmmppphhh. Judeo-Christianity is what unites us. We'd better hold strong.

[zerosix]

Anyone with a photo of this sexual deviant?