South Florida Registrant and NFL Legend Helps Announce the Relaunch of the Presidential Fitness Test in Public Schools
Yesterday, President Donald Trump announced the return of the Presidential Physical Fitness Test with the help of some big names in sports. Among them, Lawrence Taylor! Yes, that Lawrence Taylor. NFL legend, Hall of Famer, and, yes, a registered sex offender for soliciting an underage prostitute. Here’s a nice photo of them in the Roosevelt Room. L.T. at the microphone and Trump looking on admiringly.
The irony is that the test is given to school age children to assess their physical fitness. But Taylor isn’t supposed to be anywhere near a school! Don’t get me wrong. Obviously I’m a big proponent of second chances and spend many hours each week advocating for registrants. I’m also a fan of the Giants legend. It’s just that yesterday I watched a press release where the Sheriff of Marion County is standing at a podium calling “these people” irredeemable pieces of s*** and today I’m looking at a picture of one of “those people” speaking about a program (for kids, no less) with the President and Vice President looking on admiringly. It’s pretty tough to reconcile.
It’s not just Lawrence Taylor. Another famous Florida registrant, Mike Tyson (I’m also a big fan… not of the crime, but of all his other accomplishments) has had a huge resurgence recently. Here’s a nice photo of Trump and Tyson yucking it up at a recent UFC event.
What bothers me about all this is that in the world we live in, when it comes to people like myself, no matter how far in the past or how deeply accounted for, that one blip in an otherwise great life will always be the first line of our obituary, even if we’re still alive and giving back to our communities. But for celebrities or the wealthy, there’s no hiding. They are just a man with a complicated history being asked to contribute, the same way others are, based on their talents and accomplishments. If you’re famous or wealthy, society finds a way to say, “but look at all the good they’ve done.” If you’re not, the door stays shut—forever.
People on the registry are told over and over that they are irredeemable. That nothing they do — be it volunteering, starting businesses, raising families, staying re-offense free for decades — can ever outweigh the one thing they did wrong. Unless, of course, you’re in the NFL Hall of Fame. Then suddenly, we can talk about second chances.
Don’t misunderstand me; it’s not that Taylor shouldn’t be allowed to represent a fitness campaign. He should. But so should the person who spent decades of quiet, steady effort to live better lives. The message shouldn’t be that fame erases the past. The message should be that people deserve to be known for more than the worst thing they’ve ever done, whether they’re a Super Bowl champion or someone you’ve never heard of.
Because if we’re going to allow one person to stand up and be recognized for their full humanity – flaws, triumphs, and all — we ought to let others do the same. Not because they’re famous. But because they’re human.
Oh… and as a side note to Lawrence Taylor or Mike Tyson: If you are reading this, you’re on the Florida registry just like we are. We could really, really, really, use your support in advocating for reform. Please consider becoming involved in the effort.
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They get by because they are famous
For example:
Epstein never followed the rules; he only once registered at his island home and flew back and forth without following procedures and compliance all the time; he paid off the dudes that worked in the FAA control tower; he paid off the private aviation company
-his former pilots fled and the cowards in the FAA tower ‘retired’
-and Florida did nothing
Please cite to the sources for your information.
People with sex offenses deserve a 2nd chance too. Many are 1st time offenders that made a bad decision like my 25 years old son. Never meant to hurt anyone but yet got treated like a criminal. Abolish the SO registry and allow people that completed their sentence to live without the stigma of a bad apple for the rest of their lives.
How do you end up on registry, if you didn’t hurt anybody? Can someone give me logical explanation 🙄
Aes
There are several ways. Usually through police stings where law enforcement encourages felony actions.
@Aes
Some were searching porn and ended up on sites that had persons underage. Many had not victim as the so called victim was an undercover cop. How do you end up on the registry when the person was 35 years old and then later lied and then said they were only 17. So they lied twice, once for pretending to want a date (but they were a cop) then turning around and stating they were underage when they were not. Even if you sign off and say “That wasn’t what I was looking for” they have your ISP address and come to your house and arrest you for a “Made up” crime.
If we are talking non violent then: stings, possession of images, a high school student sending/receiving images of his/her partner, soliciting, two consenting adults having sexual contact in a public place, Romeo and Juliet cases, sexting between minors, etc.
What I found interesting was he has been charged two times with failure to register, with both being plea bargained to something else. 99% or more of people on the Florida registry would not have been given that deal.
I have nothing against LT. I wish he and Tyson would ignore their agents and get active in Florida and see what changes they could spearhead. I realize everyone wants to get off SORNA all together but just Florida making changes to allow first timers to automatically get off the list after a reasonable number of years (no more than 10) would be a huge step in a positive direction.
@Alan
I was retro-actively applied to the registry in 1997. On for life with no due process because there was no registry when I committed my crime, no registry when I was arrested, and no registry when I was sentenced.
The judge made no mention of any sort of registry so how was that due process? I would have changed my plea otherwise and fought all my charges even if I had to pay for a trial for the rest of my life on a payment plan.
When I was 15, I got to drive. They then made it 16 but was not retro-actively applied if you had already gotten your license so I got to keep driving. (You had to have an adult with you until you turned 16)
Love him or hate him, President Trump inviting LT, the GOAT of defensive backs, to the White House and appointing him to this committee is a good thing for our community.
I hope advocacy organizations in our space will put animus aside and reach out to POTUS to give positive reinforcement for this appointment, education, and information on why our bloated and unconstitutional registry needs to be abolished. SORNA, ICAC, AWA, IML, and other unnecessary laws/programs are certainly perfect DOGE candidates. Even convincing this administration to adopt the American Law Institute’s position on the registry would be a “HUUUUGE” accomplishment.
Change may not happen, but if we don’t try and don’t ask the answer is definitely “NO.”
Some of the comment here, need to be posted here:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
4000 characters for me? yikes. But hey we get the word to the right people then maybe we will get somewhere. If there was a President who feels like the Government was weaponized against him, this is the one. Maybe showing that it has been weaponized against us from the start 30 years ago will help also.
It could be a good thing if used properly and phrased the same, but has to be more than a famous person who gets this pass when the rest of the population he belongs to does not. You open the door to one, then the rest should get the same…especially in light of the EO just published last week from the same office.
Another Celebrity was charged with sex crimes and he might have to serve time but ZERO mention of having to be placed on the registry.
https://www.aol.com/gary-busey-pleads-guilty-sex-173937129.html
I see a lot of hypocrisy in people. This Administration has done a lot to place people with allegations, some with convictions, and some with past allegations and convictions that should be on the registry or that are on the registry, and very high positions to run the government. If the government trusts them to run the government, why can they not allow people to live their lives regularly without the registry and other prohibitions.
And many of the people who protest against people who are on the registry, seem to forget, the government is just as corrupt and may have done, or have done similar offenses that a people who are on the registry.