I'm sorry but i don't quite get what you are referring to. What "doesn't exist even there in most of America"? Is rape something that doesn't exist in America, even in law?
I am saying that the word "rape" is pretty much antiquated in American law. Although it remains in common parlance, very few states have a crime called "rape", and fewer still have a crime called "statutory rape".
A lot of the previous discussion was discussing whether his behavior fits either the common definition of rape, or the legal definition of rape. What I was saying is that, actually, there is no legal definition of rape in most jurisdictions in America. The crimes that used to be called "rape" and "statutory rape", are now called variations of "sexual assault" or "criminal sexual conduct".
What i do care about is knowing what he did and didn't do because i can then make up my own judgment of his actions, no matter how people label them, something which becomes quite difficult when people insist on treating "consensual illegal sex" and "nonconsensual illegal sex" as equivalent with not distinction.
Oh I'm sure that there are plenty of Americans who'd want to decapitate him and burn his corpse for having gay sex.
Ok. Actually, I think very few Americans would be outraged at him having gay sex. We're pretty much over that sort of thing, albeit with some exceptions. Some people would be outraged over his hypocrisy on the subject.
However, an awful lot of people would be outraged by a teacher having a sexual affair with a student, especially if the teacher is male, and the student is under 16 years of age. Legally, neither the gender of the student nor the teacher matters much, and the exact age at which some things become legal varies from one place to another, but pretty much everyone agrees that high school teachers having sex with students is Bad.
It's a huge distinction in my mind. He, or anyone else for that matter, could very well have raped someone and been completely cleared by a court of law because it's not rape to forcibly have intercourse with ones wife even if they don't want to.
In America, that's just plain wrong. It's also wrong in a lot of the rest of the world, although not everywhere.
Likewise he could have had consensual sex with a adult man in private yet at the same time been found guilty of sodomy or unnatural fornication against nature and god.
As you note, that could have been true in 2003, but not since then in America.
It seems as if you are saying that the law is not something you are concerned about. A lot of people (not including Hastert or his attorneys) would agree. However, it also seems as if you are saying that a consensual affair with a young student would not be something you condemn strongly. If so, then yours is a minority opinion. Most people, including me, would find such behavior reprehensible.
Of course, you are entitled to your opinions, and unpopular opinions may be correct. I'm just saying that if your opinion is what it seems to be, your opinion isn't shared by many.
