On April 30, 2003, a new law was passed making drawings and similar images of underaged characters having sex illegal. As I read this law, you can now break U.S. law seriously by doodling on paper with a pencil! Big Brother strikes again!
I hope this law will not endure, but as I had promised my artists, when they drew the images for me, that if the law ever made the images illegal, I would yank them, and I have. Over 130 images were removed from my site and have been destroyed. The loss of art to the world is irrevocable and if you believe these people, laudable. I do not and never will agree, but a business decision had to be made and I have made it! Sorry, fans!
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Here is what I will do about my man/boy stories:
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1. I will continue to write them as before, no changes planned there.
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2. I will commission images for them, with the artist asked to draw all characters 18 years and older. They might put little-boy clothing on the younger characters, they might not.
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3. I will hold off putting images on the older works until I see what the law does about this recent change. My money is still on it being thrown out the window as infringing on First Amendment rights. But that conservative court does make me worried about our freedoms. Gosh! I can now break the law, seriously, just by doodling with a pencil! How freaking silly can they get???
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Here is the text of the new law for your reference and outrage.
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SEC. 504. OBSCENE CHILD PORNOGRAPHY.
(a) IN GENERAL- Chapter 71 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1466 the following:
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Sec. 1466A. Obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children
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(a) IN GENERAL- Any person who, in a circumstance described in subsection (d), knowingly produces, distributes, receives, or possesses with intent to distribute, a visual depiction of any kind, including a drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting, that--
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(1)(A) depicts a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct; and
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(B) is obscene; or
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(2)(A) depicts an image that is, or appears to be, of a minor engaging in graphic bestiality, sadistic or masochistic abuse, or sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-
genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex; and
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(B) lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value; or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be subject to the penalties provided in section 2252A(b)(1), including the penalties provided for cases involving a prior conviction.
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(b) ADDITIONAL OFFENSES- Any person who, in a circumstance described in subsection (d), knowingly possesses a visual depiction of any kind, including a drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting, that--
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(1)(A) depicts a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct; and
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(B) is obscene; or
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(2)(A) depicts an image that is, or appears to be, of a minor engaging in graphic bestiality, sadistic or masochistic abuse, or sexual intercourse, including genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or oral-anal, whether between persons of the same or opposite sex; and
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(B) lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value; or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be subject to the penalties provided in section 2252A(b)(2), including the penalties provided for cases involving a prior conviction.
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(c) NONREQUIRED ELEMENT OF OFFENSE- It is not a required element of any offense under this section that the minor depicted actually exist.
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(d) CIRCUMSTANCES- The circumstance referred to in subsections (a) and (b) is that--
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(1) any communication involved in or made in furtherance of the offense is communicated or transported by the mail, or in interstate or foreign commerce by any means, including by computer, or any means or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce is otherwise used in committing or in furtherance of the commission of the offense;
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(2) any communication involved in or made in furtherance of the offense contemplates the transmission or transportation of a visual depiction by the mail, or in interstate or foreign commerce by any means, including by computer;
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(3) any person travels or is transported in interstate or foreign commerce in the course of the commission or in furtherance of the commission of the offense;
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(4) any visual depiction involved in the offense has been mailed, or has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce by any means, including by computer, or was produced using materials that have been mailed, or that have been shipped or transported in
interstate or foreign commerce by any means, including by computer; or
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(5) the offense is committed in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States or in any territory or possession of the United States.
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(e) AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE- It shall be an affirmative defense to a charge of violating subsection (b) that the defendant--
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(1) possessed less than 3 such visual depictions; and
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(2) promptly and in good faith, and without retaining or allowing any person, other than a law enforcement agency, to access any such visual depiction--
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(A) took reasonable steps to destroy each such visual depiction; or
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(B) reported the matter to a law enforcement agency and afforded that agency access to each such visual depiction.
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(f) DEFINITIONS- For purposes of this section--
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(1) the term `visual depiction' includes undeveloped film and videotape, and data stored on a computer disk or by electronic means which is capable of conversion into a visual image, and also includes any photograph, film, video, picture, digital image or picture, computer image or picture, or computer generated image or picture, whether made or produced by electronic, mechanical, or other means;
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(2) the term `sexually explicit conduct' has the meaning given the term in section 2256(2)(A) or 2256(2)(B); and
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(3) the term `graphic', when used with respect to a depiction of sexually explicit conduct, means that a viewer can observe any part of the genitals or pubic area of any depicted person or animal during any part of the time that the sexually explicit conduct is being depicted.'.
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(b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT- The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 1466 the following new item:
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1466A. Obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children.'.
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(c) SENTENCING GUIDELINES-
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(1) CATEGORY- Except as provided in paragraph (2), the applicable category of offense to be used in determining the sentencing range referred to in section 3553(a)(4) of title 18, United States Code, with respect to any person convicted under section 1466A of such title, shall be the category of offenses described in section 2G2.2 of the Sentencing Guidelines.
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(2) RANGES- The Sentencing Commission may promulgate guidelines specifically governing offenses under section 1466A of title 18, United States Code, if such guidelines do not result in sentencing ranges that are lower than those that would have applied under paragraph (1).