Hadrian's Lover
Page 37
Judge: And you intend to accomplish this through a study of genetics?
Defense: Yes, M’Lady.
Judge: Proceed.
Defense: Once again, Mr. Gillis, how is it geneticists are able to use a behavioral scale in their genetic research?
Gillis: We are simply using terminology laypersons can understand.
Defense: So, the Kinsey scale is not, in fact, an accurate representation of what you are capable of with genetics?
Gillis: Well, yes and no.
Defense: Explain.
Gillis: Yes, in the sense that we are very close to identifying the homosexual gene. No, because no work in genetic research will ever be 100 percent.
Defense: Thank you, Mr. Gillis. That brings me to my next point. Let us refer back to your wording “the majority of.” Prior to just admitting that any work in genetic research will ever be 100 percent, did you not claim to guarantee—100 percent guarantee—that every fetus could in fact be genetically altered, ensuring all Hadrian’s children be born homosexual?
Gillis: Yes.
Defense: Really? A 100 percent guarantee?
Gillis: All right, no, but really, yes.
Defense: No, but really yes? Please explain.
Gillis: We do what is called genetic screening of the fetus. Tests will then reveal if the child to be born has the genetic makeup of someone who is homosexual.
Defense: That sounds straightforward enough, so why did you preface your response with no?
Gillis: Because, as much as we now know about human DNA, it is such a condense microscopic heliograph, it is impossible to ever say fully, 100 percent, exactly what an individual’s sexual orientation will be.
Defense: Interesting.
Gillis: That being said—
Defense: That being said, it is possible, is it not, that some of Hadrian’s children may in fact be born heterosexual? That perhaps a one or even a zero on the Kinsey scale could be born.
Gillis: It is very unlikely.
Defense: Unlikely does not mean impossible. If it is “unlikely,” then you have to admit it is possible; even the most remote possibility still exists, does it not?
Gillis: Not likely.
Defense: Does it not?
Gillis: All right, yes. But we are very careful in our screening process.
Defense: Regardless of how careful you are, did you not just say it is not possible ever to be 100 percent certain of anything when it comes to human DNA?
Gillis: You are correct.
Defense: So it is possible then that one, two, or maybe even more of Hadrian’s children may in fact be born not only with heterosexual tendencies but be a zero on the Kinsey scale, to use your own terminology.
Gillis: Although very unlikely, it is possible.
Defense: Thank you, Mr. Gillis. No more questions.
Judge: Does the prosecution wish to ask any questions of the witness at this time?
Prosecution: No, M’Lady, but I would like to ask that we approach the bench.
Judge: Would the prosecution and defense please approach the bench?
Prosecution: What was the point of all that?
Defense: My point, M’Lady, is that Todd Middleton was a heterosexual living closeted in a homosexual world. Fearful of reeducation camp, fearful of losing family and friends, fearful of losing the opportunity presented to him by Antinous Uni, Todd Middleton was a young man diminished in morale and esteem. The final toll destroying his will to live was being brutally raped by Mr. Weller—
Prosecution: Objection, M’Lady. Mr. Weller is not on trial for rape. Nor is there any evidence he committed such an act.
Judge: Objection noted. The Defense will please rephrase.
Defense: After his sexual experience with Mr. Weller, the young man turned to thoughts of suicide, evidence of which has already been shown. My client, therefore, chose not to murder Todd Middleton, but rather to assist the young man in an act of suicide.
Judge: Euthanasia is only legal if the patient is living in pain and wishes to die with dignity. This case still boils down to an act of murder.
Defense: On the contrary, M’Lady, if Todd Middleton were indeed heterosexual with no hope of reeducation, fearing, no doubt, as all the citizens of Hadrian fear, the “heterosexual barbarian,” his self-loathing, coupled with what I intend to prove was a brutal rape, left the young man living in a state of hopelessness akin to physical pain. Ergo, Frank Hunter’s act is no longer that of murder but euthanasia.
Judge: All right, Ms. Raboud. I will allow you to continue—for now.
* * * * *
Salve!
A Captivating Court Case
HNN—Melissa Eagleton reporting
The court case involving Hadrian versus Hunter is all anyone in Hadrian can talk about. Heated debates are being held in every office, classroom, even on the street. Everyone in the HNN newsroom also comments on how the evening dinner table is focused on discussions regarding the innocence or guilt of young Frank Hunter. Seventeen years old and a confessed murderer, yet his lawyer, Ms. Faial Raboud, refuses to enter his guilty plea. Being her client is under age, Ms. Raboud is only entering the plea the boy’s fathers agree to: not guilty. The two fathers and Ms. Raboud stand by the plea that Frank Hunter did not murder his friend; rather, he participated in an act of assisted suicide. Today’s testimonies by Jason Warith, the boy’s guardian at the Northeast Reeducation Camp, and the boy’s papa, Mr. Mike Fulton, lend credence to Raboud and the Hunters’ assertion.
Mr. Fulton admitted to having abandoned his son to the system when he learned the boy had been exposed as straight. Just knowing one’s loving parent no longer desires any contact with you is enough to cause any young man or woman to lose his or her senses. As we know from a previous Salve! with Gideon Weller, many of our young men and women who have been exposed find themselves suddenly cast aside by their families. As numerous youth survive the reeducation system and go on to lead productive lives, this evidence alone is not enough to prove that Todd Middleton’s depression was extreme enough to allow for euthanasia. It was Mr. Jason Warith’s testimony that proved the most damning.
When on the stand, Jason Warith spoke of brutal beatings occurring on a daily basis at the Northeast Camp. The paddle, shown to the right on our wall screen, is said to have been wielded against Todd and nearly every other young man’s bare backside while in the custody of our nation. As well as beating the young men, public displays of this abusive treatment also occurred as a warning to others. According to Mr. Warith, Mr. Weller beat one boy to the point where blood dripped off the paddle. Jason Warith goes on to say, “Mr. Weller then pointed the bloody instrument at us, yelling out, ‘There will be no dissension in my camp!’” This incident, according to Mr. Warith, wasn’t the worst of it. “The man brutally raped my ward.” Although Mr. Warith admits he did not witness the actual attack, he claims to have heard the young man crying out for help. “Being locked out of the room,” Mr. Warith claims, “made it impossible for me to intervene.”
Mr. Weller has yet to take the stand. Tomorrow, prosecuting attorney Graham Sabine intends to examine him and prove beyond a doubt that although Todd Middleton came to the Northeast Camp recalcitrant, he was beginning to soften under Gideon Weller’s tutelage and was readying himself for reentry into Hadrian society.
Vale!
Transcripts: Hadrian vs. Hunter
Prosecution questioning of Gideon Weller
Prosecution: Mr. Weller, according to the Defense, Todd Middleton was heterosexual and no amount of reeducation would work for him. Do you agree with his assessment?
Weller: No sir. Todd Middleton knew he had heterosexual leanings, but like everyone in Hadrian, there was inside him a latent homosexual. He asked me to help bring those latent tendencies to the surface.
Prosecution: Which you did by agreeing to make love to him at his request?
Weller: Yes. As the legal age of consent is sixteen and Todd Middleton’s Charge was unwilling t
o assist his ward in this manner, I agreed to help the young man out.
Prosecution: How can you explain Todd Middleton’s suicide attempts after your sexual interaction with him?
Weller: Todd Middleton is not the first, nor will he be the last, young man who becomes suicidal after his first sexual experience. These boys are still struggling with their sexual identity, which is why so much care is taken to prevent their attempts from being successful. Inevitably, they learn not only to accept themselves as homosexual, but also eventually to become active, healthy members of society.
Prosecution: Thank you, Mr. Weller.
Judge: Defense, you may cross-examine.
Defense: Mr. Weller, do the men you make love to often scream—
Weller: Indeed, madam, they do.
Defense: Allow me to finish the question, sir. “Do the men you make love to often cry—
Weller: Tears of joy!
Judge: Mr. Weller, one more outburst and I will hold you in contempt of court.
Weller: Sorry, M’Lady.
Defense: Do the men you make love to often cry out in agony, begging Hadrian for help?
Prosecution: Objection, M’Lady. How Mr. Weller’s sexual partners react during their intimate act is of no business to the Defense.
Judge: Objection noted.
Defense: Allow me to rephrase. Why is it, if you and Todd Middleton were making love, that the young man was heard to cry out in agony, “For the love of Hadrian, someone help me”?
Weller: Todd’s words were, to the best of my memory, “Please, Mr. Weller, for the love of Hadrian, help me.”
Defense: And never once did he cry out the words, “Please, no, stop, please, stop”?
Weller: I recall his saying, “Help me stop; please, help me stop.”
Defense: How do you explain the difference between what Mr. Warith heard Todd yelling and what you claim him to have said?
Weller: Quite simply, Mr. Warith could only hear the young man’s voice muffled through a closed door.
Defense: And your personal assistant, Mr. Darrell Jeffreys, can attest to that.
Weller: Yes, he can.
Defense: One more question, Mr. Weller. Do you often have your personal assistant in the room with you when you make love to a man?
Prosecution: Objection, M’Lady. Mr. Weller’s sexual habits are not on trial.
Judge: Objection noted.
Defense: The Defense retracts its question. That will be all; thank you, Mr. Weller.
Judge: Prosecution, you may cross-examine.
Prosecution: Mr. Weller, did you rape Todd Middleton?
Weller: No.
Prosecution: Mr. Weller, did you ever rape any of the charges under your or another guardian’s care?
Weller: No.
Prosecution: Mr. Weller, do wards often request sexual intercourse from their guardians?
Weller: Yes.
Prosecution: Mr. Weller, is such sexual activity frowned upon?
Weller: Only if the ward is under the age of consent, that being sixteen.
Prosecution: Thank you, Mr. Weller. That will be all.
* * * * *
Salve!
A Turn for the Worse
HNN—Melissa Eagleton Reporting
Today’s testimony by Mr. Gideon Weller has stunned many of Hadrian’s citizens. Although Mr. Weller cannot be accused of rape, what he admitted as being a common practice at the Northeast Camp is most shocking. Mr. Weller admitted under oath having had sexual intercourse with Todd Middleton. And, although Todd Middleton, at age seventeen, was of the age of consent, the age difference between the Warden and the young man is far too extreme for comfort. That the act was not rape was confirmed by one of Salve!’s investigating reporters, Michael Swahazey. Michael interviewed Mr. Weller’s personal assistant who assured us that intercourse occurred between the two men at young Middleton’s request. Mr. Weller referred to the act as “medicinal intercourse” and acknowledged it to be a common act between ward and guardian.
HNN has responded to this method of rehabilitating our youth with outrage. We do not believe that any educational institution should have its adult mentors engaging in any form of sexual contact with our youth. The guardian of a ward at a reeducation camp is akin to a teacher in a school. This is a relationship based on trust and, though the focus of these educators is to help our children find their latent homosexuality, it should not be their place to participate in any sexual activity with youth sent to reeducation.
Investigating reporter Michael Swahazey has delved deep into this story and contacted all other reeducation camps throughout Hadrian. Only at the Northeast Reeducation Camp is “medicinal intercourse” used. When a ward tries to seduce a guardian, according to Adrian Adams, camp Warden for the Southwest Reeducation Camp, the guardian is instructed to refuse but speak to the ward positively about such a request. The fact that a ward expresses sexual interest in someone of the same sex is a sign that he (or she as in the case of our female youth) is coming to accept Hadrian’s chosen lifestyle as his (or her) own. “Never,” Adrian Adams states emphatically, “should a guardian cross the line and participate with his ward in sexual activity.”
We, at HNN, agreed with Adrian Adams. I, for one, am not so anxious now to throw all of my support behind Mr. Gideon Weller. He may not have raped Todd Middleton, but he definitely crossed the line when he engaged in sexual activity with the boy. What is your opinion Hadrian? Voc us your views @HNN#GW-RE/MI.
Vale!
Transcripts: Hadrian vs. Hunter
Prosecution Questioning of Dean Stuttgart
Prosecution: Mr. Hunter, when did you first discover the deceased was heterosexual?
Dean: The day Frank voc’d that Todd had been exposed at school.
Prosecution: Surely that wasn’t the first time. You must have suspected. When did you first suspect the deceased might be heterosexual?
Dean: When the boys were thirteen.
Prosecution: Thirteen. Four years ago.
Dean: Three and a half.
Prosecution: Three and a half then. So, you knew the boy was straight for three and a half years?
Dean: No.
Defense: Objection, M’Lady. The witness never claimed to have known about the deceased’s sexual preference, only to have suspected.
Prosecution: Sorry, suspected. So, then, you suspected straight tendencies for three and a half years, correct?
Dean: Yes.
Prosecution: In all that time, Mr. Hunter, did you ever sit the boy down to talk to him about the dangers of strai behavior?
Defense: M’Lady, that’s a sexual slur.
Prosecution: My apologies. Straight behavior—or would the defense prefer I use the word heterosexual—did you ever sit the boy down and discuss the dangers of heterosexual behavior?
Dean: No.
Prosecution: No? That’s odd. Tell us, Mr. Hunter, you were reeducated, were you not?
Defense: Objection.
Prosecution: It is important, M’Lady. Since the defense is determined to throw blame on external forces, I am uncovering other external forces from the boy’s family and those closely associated with him.
Judge: Proceed.
Defense: M’Lady—
Judge: As I allowed you levity, I will extend the same to the prosecution. Proceed with your questioning.
Prosecution: You were reeducated, were you not?
Dean: Yes.
Prosecution: And in the three whole years you suspected the boy to be straight, you never once spoke to him about being straight or cautioned him about the consequences?
Dean: Of course I did.
Prosecution: How? Did you ever tell him about your being straight?
Defense: Objection, M’Lady. My client was reeducated.
Prosecution: My apologies. Having once been straight, did you ever speak to him about that, sir? Did you ever ask him if he thought about straight acts? Kissing girls? Touching breasts? That sort of thing? Did you
ever once think to ask him what he liked most about his own sex? Did you ever once try to guide him toward a gay lifestyle? Did you ever tell him about reeducation camp?
Defense: Objection! M’Lady, the prosecution is bombarding the witness, refusing him opportunity to answer.
Judge: Objection noted. Prosecution will restrain himself to one question at a time.