NEWS WEEK
A Kentucky Republican has introduced legislation that would amend the state’s law so a person who had sex with their first cousin would no longer be criminally liable for incest.
House Bill 269, which state Representative Nick Wilson sponsored, was introduced on January 16 to the House Committee on Committees. According to the Kentucky General Assembly website, it would strike “first cousin from the list of familial relationships” defined as unlawful incest in the state. The amendment would also reduce the designation of incest by contact to a Class D felony for some cases “unless it is committed with a person who is less than twelve years of age,” in which case it is Class C.
Wilson, then a 27-year-old public defender, first shot to prominence when he won the 37th season of the CBS reality TV show Survivor in 2018, called Survivor: David vs. Goliath, before returning for the 40th season, featuring the winners from previous shows in 2020. In November 2022, Wilson ran unopposed for the 82nd District of the Kentucky House after Republican incumbent Regina Huff retired.
Kentucky law states that a person is guilty of incest if they engage in sexual relations with a person they know to be “his or her parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, great-grandparent, great-grandchild, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, brother, sister, first cousin, ancestor, or descendent.” The amendment introduced by Wilson, if passed, would remove first cousin from this list.
It would also alter Kentucky law on parole for violent offenders to include a person “who has been convicted of incest by sexual contact” within the definition.
