Pritt was initially elected to the state House as a Democrat in 2022 but changed his political affiliation to Republican the year after. Republican Party chair Elgine McArdle said in a statement that Pritt had realized that the “Democratic Party of today is not the Democratic Party that our parents grew up with.”
State Republicans have filed numerous bills seeking to restrict gender-affirming care for transgender minors, ban trans student-athletes from playing on sports teams that match their gender identity, and nullify cities’ non-discrimination ordinances.
In 2023, Pritt voted for a ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth. State Sen. Mike Azinger ® said that the bill was needed because gender is “self-evident” and that the bill was needed to stop doctors who want to “chop up a child,” even though gender affirming surgery is almost never performed on minors and the bill banned non-surgical interventions.
Why is it always the ones you most suspect?
When it comes to reporting, they always want to go with what is verifiable, and accurate. That is why they always use phrasing like “alleged”, “have sex”.
The legal definition of “rape” varies quite wildly from region to region, and many things the average person would obviously consider rape, may not be in the legal definition, opening up news media and/or the reporter directly to potential legal trouble. For instance in some areas, “rape” requires vaginal penetration by a penis… So legally, a man cannot be “raped”. So a report that a woman raped a man there, would technically be inaccurate and potentially defamatory.
It’s much easier to just use generic terms and allegations when reporting, especially if it’s not just a local media organization where differing laws for other regions are a factor. Even in situations where the laws aren’t likely to be different… sex with a middle schooler is almost surely statutory rape regardless of the area. But standardizing around general statements is the best option to avoid legal issues, even if those aren’t likely to be successful, they cost money to defend.
That is what the word allegedly is for. With a child it can never be alleged sex, only alleged rape or alleged sexual assault.
The child cannot consent. Not by legal definition. Therefore, more false and misleading reporting occurs. Under the implication that a child “had sex” with an adult.
It’s not verifiable or accurate that a child is having sex. It’s rape, statutory rape, or sexual assault.
If that’s their excuse it’s pretty lame, it isn’t hard to stick to what is verifiable and accurate without implying this 14 year old could consent.
The headline is a statement about what was alleged. It’s quick and easy to verify that the allegation included Pritt sticking his penis in her mouth (the full affidavit is here). I think that meets the common understanding of ‘rape,’ it does meet the federal uniform crime reporting definition of rape, and it would be 2nd degree felony sexual assault in WV law.
Even if the specifics were harder to verify and the reporter was looking for a broader term than ‘rape,’ something like ‘sexually abused’ would be much more accurate than ‘had sex with.’ And it’s important to be accurate with this because describing sexual violence as a type of sex instead of a type of violence makes it seem like a normal thing for people to want to do.