If Charli Parker, 31, had been a pastor, her attorney argues, the “consensual” sexual relationship she had with a student would not have been criminalized, The Tuscaloosa News reported.

Last August, Parker admitted to having had a sexual relationship with at least one student younger than 19 when she was a teacher at a private Christian school in Carrollton, Alabama, The Birmingham News reported.

That same month, a Morgan County Circuit judge made a significant ruling in a similar case: He found that the state law forbidding any school employees from having sex with students younger than 19 is overbroad and unconstitutional, the Associated Press reported. The ruling led to a dismissal of charges against Carrie Witt, a former high school teacher, and David Solomon, an ex-aide, according to the AP.

Judge Glenn Thompson ruled that prosecutors must prove that a school employee was in a position of authority over a student and abused that position to obtain consent, the AP said.

Now, after pleading guilty, Parker, who’s serving a three-year prison sentence, is appealing her conviction, The Tuscaloosa News reported.

“Alabama law does not make it a crime for members of other occupations to have consensual sex with 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds, even when there is a position of trust or authority,” attorney Virginia Buck said, according to the newspaper.

But Buck says school employees are treated differently, the newspaper said.

The minimum age at which a person can legally consent to sexual activity in Alabama is 16.

Authorities said Parker was a teacher at Pickens Academy when she and the 16-year-old student began a sexual relationship in October 2014 that continued until she was arrested in March 2016, FOX 6 reported. She was accused of having sex with the student at least 11 times at locations that included a cemetery, The Birmingham News reported.

Parker’s husband, James Parker III, was also accused of having sex with a student and was arrested in March 2016, prosecutors said, according to FOX 6.

Buck said in the brief filed Tuesday that a 21-year-old janitor working for a school system might go to Gulf Shores for spring break and have sex with an 18-year-old senior in high school, The Tuscaloosa News reported. He would be guilty of a Class B felony under the law, she said.

“But a 65-year-old doctor, minister, therapist or attorney is not subject to criminal liability in Alabama for having consensual sex with a 16-year-old over whom he has authority or with whom he holds a position of trust,” Buck said, according to the newspaper.

The state disagreed with Thompson’s ruling in August, the AP reported. It has appealed the decision, but the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals has not yet issued a ruling in the case, the Tuscaloosa News said.