Kentucky Incest Reform
A Kentucky lawmaker and former “Survivor” winner introduced a bill to allow sex with first cousins, but later called that a mistake
CBS’s “Survivor” is a reality TV show that pits contestants against one another in a survival setting for a $1M prize
Nick Wilson rose to prominence when he won the show’s 37th season, which aired in 2018
Wilson’s success on Survivor boosted his popularity in his home state, Kentucky
In 2019, his hometown, Williamsburg, awarded him the “keys to the city,” a public honor, and named January 16 “Nick Wilson Day”
Riding that popularity, in 2022, Wilson ran unopposed as a Republican for Kentucky’s House
Kentucky law defines incest as sexual relations with anybody known to be “his or her parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, great-grandparent, great-grandchild, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, brother, sister, first cousin, ancestor, or descendent”
Wilson introduced a bill on Tuesday that, if passed, would remove first cousins from that list
Kentucky House Bill 269 – filed by Wilson on “Nick Wilson Day” – seeks to “remove first cousin from the list of familial relationships” that constitutes incest
The bill would also broaden the scope of what constitutes incest yet reduce the severity of punishments given to those convicted of it “unless the victim is under 12 years old”
He also filed two other bills, one which would make it a felony for anybody to travel to Kentucky “to engage in specified sexual offenses” and the other related to the reporting of child abuse
The incest bill went viral, and in a Facebook post on Wednesday morning, Wilson alleged the removal of first cousins was an error
“During the drafting process, there was an inadvertent change, which struck ‘first cousins’ from the list of relationships included under the incest statute, and I failed to add it back in,” he wrote
“[Today], I will withdraw HB 269 and refile a bill with the ‘first cousin’ language intact,” he added
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