When I was fourteen I met my husband for the first time. We started off talking and getting to know each other as friends with the permission of my parents. Once I turned fifteen, we officially started dating also with the permission of my parents.
Although my husband is ten years older than I am, we love each other very much till this very day. One of the happiest days of our life was when he proposed to me.
During our engagement, I became pregnant with our first child. We were married 3 months later and our daughter was born. While in the hospital a social services agent came in and asked us questions; where my husband worked, did we have enough family support, and if we could take care of our daughter? That day my parents received a phone call from a police officer saying he needed our marriage certificate right away. Apparently, the hospital did not believe we were indeed married. I was still in the hospital, so how did they expect us to take the certificate in? My husband was indicted for “sexual assault of a child.” While awaiting our day in court, our son was born. Due to current Texas law, my husband was sentenced to five years’ probation and now carries the label of “sex offender.” He has been excluded from being around schools, parks, or the toy department at stores. We didn’t think in any way what we where doing was wrong. Considering our Hispanic background, most often the men are older. A ten-year age difference may seem like a lot to some people, but we are married and love each other very much and do not understand why we are being punished this way.
My husband and I are currently planning to be married again in the Catholic Church so that our marriage will be recognized by the religion we both cherish. “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.”
Current laws have emotionally and financially devastated our family. Why are these laws punishing my husband, myself and our children? Probation and treatment fees, polygraphs fees, and hours and hours of community service are stripping away valuable time and money from our family. I think they should be looking for the real criminals out there and let us be a family.