Same-sex relationship leaves Florida teen facing felony charges

MIAMI (AP):



An 18-year-old Florida teen is now charges after her relationship with a 14-year-old girl.



Florida cheerleader, Kaitlyn Hunt, is facing felony charges that she had sexual contact with her underage, 14-year-old, girlfriend.



Leading gay rights advocates say the teen is being unfairly targeted for a common high school romance because she's gay.



Hunt played on the basketball team with her younger girlfriend and shared the same circle of friends, said Hunt's mother, Kelley Hunt Smith.



However, Hunt was kicked off the basketball team near the end of last year after the coach learned of the relationship.



In February, she was charged with lewd and lascivious battery on a child 12 to 16.



The day before she was arrested, police and the younger girl's parents secretly recorded a phone conversation in which the two girls discussed kissing in the school bathroom, said Hunt's father, Steve Hunt.



Prosecutors have offered a plea deal to Hunt that would allow her to avoid registering as a sex offender if she pleads guilty to lesser charges of child abuse.



State Attorney Bruce Colton said he would recommend two years of house arrest followed by one year probation if she takes the deal.



If she is found guilty, it's also possible that Hunt could apply to not have to register as a sex offender under a "Romeo and Juliet" law because the girls were no more than four years apart in age, Colton said.



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