Records refer to me as the
"victim" of a sexual assault. I do not, nor have I ever, considered
myself the "victim".
At the age of 14,
I fell in love with a young man who was 19. Like many young,
immature teens, we did not think of the consequences of our actions. We
engaged in a consensual sexual relationship and I became pregnant, which
upset my mother. She filed charges on Travis which she later
tried to drop but the state would not allow that to happen.
Travis was
charged with "sexual assault of a child" and served a two year prison
sentence. I wrote to him every day. In February, 2000, Travis was
released from prison and my mother, regretting ever filing the charges,
allowed him to move in with us as we had a child to raise. Soon
thereafter, we were married. We have now been married for almost seven
years and have three children.
According to
Texas laws, Travis will remain on the Texas Sex Offender Registry for
the rest of his life. He is not a pedophile, nor a dangerous predator.
The "sex offender" label has made it hard for my husband to support our
family. We once had to move from an apartment, after three years living
there, because one of the neighbors found out and complained to
management that Travis was a "registered sex offender".
I realize that
laws are put in place to "protect the children". What about our three
children? They will never be protected as long as their daddy's name and
face remains on the Texas Sex Offender Registry. I still don't know how
I will one day explain this to them.
I was not the
"victim" of a sexual assault. I am the "victim" of laws which will never
allow our family to live a normal, productive life.
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