To believe in civil liberties means to support people's legal right to do offensive, even disgusting, things. In the absence of proof that Valle was actually preparing to kill his wife, however much his kink makes me squick I have to support his right to have really disgusting fantasies and to talk about them with other people.
‘Cannibal cop’ wins in court again (Washington Post)
NYPD officer Gilberto Valle, better known as the “Cannibal Cop,” has triumphed in court for what appears to be a final time. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit affirmed a lower court’s acquittal of Valle on the conspiracy charge, and reversed a conviction on a charge of improperly accessing a government computer and obtaining information.
Fantasy crimes — even repellent, disgusting, unthinkable fantasy crimes worthy of universal condemnation — are not crimes, it said.
“This does not mean that fantasies are harmless,” Judge Barrington Parker wrote in an opinion. “To the contrary, fantasies of violence against women are both a symptom of and a contributor to a culture of exploitation, a massive social harm that demeans women. Yet we must not forget that in a free and functioning society, not every harm is meant to be addressed with the federal criminal law.”