Australian man pushing to decriminalise ‘consensual incest’

Australian Richard Morris, who is pushing to change incest laws in about 60 countries, said he supports the legal push in Manhattan Federal Court and that such behaviour between consenting adults “should not be criminalised”.

He and other advocates have launched about 130 petitions, mostly on Change.org, seeking to change incest laws around the world. Most have received little support.

“We haven’t moved any mountains yet,” he told the NY Post.

Mr Morris was inspired to fight for those in consenting incestual relationships, he said, after learning about a Scottish case in which a long-separated father and daughter were reunited, started an affair and were then criminally convicted.

Fighting for true “marriage equality” is “the right thing to do, isn’t it?” Mr Morris said.

“It seems to be as unjust as the law that used to imprison gay people, and the law that used to stop people of different races marrying,” he added.

Keith Pullman, who runs the blog Full Marriage Equality, also cheered on the New York lawsuit.

“It is absurd to say that an adult can’t consent to marry their parent. That same adult can be sent to war, take on six or seven figures of debt, operate heavy machinery, be sentenced to death by a federal court, and consent to sex with five strangers (and marriage with one of them) but can’t consent to marry someone they love?” he told the NY Post.

“In some of these cases, the genetic parent didn’t raise them and they met for the first time two years ago. Allegations of ‘grooming’ are laughable attempts to deny someone their rights even though it will have no impact on the person objecting.”

This article originally appeared on NY Post and was reproduced with permission