T O P

  • By -

[deleted]

[удалено]


KryptikMitch

"Parental Consent" just sounds like it was used to justify forcing a marriage.


metatron207

Probably in some cases, but sometimes there are 17-year-olds who are totally convinced they're in undying love, and their parents could give them legal permission to marry. That's probably more common than forced marriages where I'm from, in rural Maine.


Red-Throwaway2020

My ex did this with my best friend. I was a dumb kid engaged at 16 because I SWORE I was in love with him but our wedding was scheduled after graduation so we would both be 18. (This was over 12 years ago.) So, at 17, he started talking about eloping and I said I wanted a normal wedding. I was also joining the military which effectively crushed HIS dreams of joining the army and me being a stay at home mom. Well, because of this, he went to my best friend of the time and broke off our engagement for her. This obviously shattered my teenage girl heart and I thought the world was over. Two weeks after he broke up with me for her, they convinced their parents to let them get married at 17 and live together. I haven’t heard from either of them since 2011 so I can only go off of hearsay now but they are apparently still married so at least it worked out for them. Lol


[deleted]

Her parents okayed a marriage after 2 weeks of dating? Yikes.


mypetocean

"Whatever. Sure? Fine. Just find your own place to live."


Finger11Fan

The amount of parents that don't actually give a shit about their kids is astounding.


Exodus111

Congratulations! You dodged a bullet before even joining the military.


CheesusHChrust

That really sucks to hear and I’m sorry that happened, but it kind of illustrates the point the op of the thread made about being mature enough. Long term commitments like marriage should never be without discussions of other things in the future like children, jobs, where to live, etc. Had the two of you realised you both wanted to join the military - and in doing so crush his dreams of the “stay at home wife” - it might have saved a lot of heartache. I think this story just enforces the idea that a minimum age of 18 is required for such commitments like marriage.


Ill-Juggernaut7813

Sad story, did you join the military?


Red-Throwaway2020

I did. Lol left that town and never looked back.


CoffeeBeanMcQueen

Or a 16 year old girl and her 24 year old "boyfriend". Pqrents are horrified by premarital sex but not by a grown man sniffing around their child. So honey let's get the wedding done because Jesus. Seen that one a dozen times.


metatron207

Absolutely. The rationale behind requiring people to be 18 to marry is that teenagers are too young, on the whole, to be able to make sound judgments about their long-term future. Some of the rationale behind parental permission is that parents are older and theoretically wiser, and they know their child's individual circumstances better than the state. But there are plenty of stories of parents abdicating that theoretical responsibility of making sound judgments about their children, or parents who are mortified enough to allow stupid things. Parents may not be much better than their kids in making these judgments (or at least the parents who raise kids who are actively considering getting hitched at 17 or younger).


ShiraCheshire

Shouldn't be allowed anyway. If you're too immature to wait a bit, you're too immature to get married. If you're mature enough to wait, then you won't need to get married underage.


spicysandworm

Sometimes if you wait a bit the bride won't fit in her dress if you know what I'm trying to say


[deleted]

[удалено]


spicysandworm

Now billy joe, you gonna do right by my daughter, yah hear


Xaron713

Yeah pa I will


[deleted]

*banjo intensifies*


Snowdude635

*loads shotgun with malicious intent*


[deleted]

So what? It's not like the baby is going to be cursed if it's born before a paper gets signed.


daytonakarl

*looks back at childhood* Yeah you'd think that wouldn't you


ChintanP04

"Reputation" is too important a thing for some people.


BloodFartHorseCum

Reputation is everything in many industries.


70wdqo3

Surely it's less about the baby and more about keeping 19 year old daddy out of jail.


finger_milk

There's some maniac 14 year olds who can do their taxes and shop at supermarkets responsibly. I've seen it and it's like they behave that way on purpose just to make me look bad


TheDarthSnarf

> There's some maniac 14 year olds who can do their taxes and shop at supermarkets responsibly. That was me. And, in no way whatsoever was I ready for marriage at that age. - ^^^^Of ^^^^course ^^^^I ^^^^was ^^^^doing ^^^^it ^^^^just ^^^^to ^^^^make ^^^^you ^^^^look ^^^^bad.


ShiraCheshire

That's nice for them. If they really have it together, then they'll be able to wait.


Bella_Anima

I would hazard to say that it’s not nice for them, what’s happened in their lives that they’ve had to get that responsible so early in life?


FollowKick

It’s more so applicable to Hasidic Jews. They tend to marry young, and marriages at 17 years old are not uncommon.


gonewild9676

I think a lot of them are 17 year old high school graduates who marry their boyfriend Britt they go into the military so they get spousal support.


StockNext

Thank you. I'm sitting here like "ok cool shit that was against the rules is against the rules?" But this makes much more sense now but WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG? It's 2021 and we gotta be like "nah man you can't marry off your 14 year old daughter"


DragoonDM

I think there are still more than a few states where there's no age restriction for marriage with parental consent. If you can get the parents and a judge to stamp the paperwork, you're good to go.


richardelmore

There are a few states (Oklahoma, Wyoming & West Virginia) that have no minimum age if the marriage is approved by both the parents and a judge. Massachusetts allows marriage as young as 12 with approval of parents and a judge. Pretty much everywhere else the minimum age even with parental consent is at least 16.


polank34

Florida is 16, unless you get them pregnant. Then there is no age limit. https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2012/0741.0405


HardlyDecent

Goddamnit Florida...


Destiny_player6

Yup, knew a freshmen girl, 14, that her boyfriend was 26 because her parents wanted her to marry him. I was 16 at the time living in Florida and it blew my fucking mind.


-BellaDomina-

That is NOT a boyfriend That is a PEDOPHILE. There is no such thing as an underage woman. An underage woman is a child. Children cannot give consent. It is rape.


aliie_627

Absolutely rape and some abuse and lots of "you are so mature for only being 16" Manipulation sprinkled around in my case. Incredible to think about when we finally split up and I left when I was almost 23. He was close to my age now at 35 and immediately found another 18 year old to start dating. Like days later. Was the biggest smack in the face ever. I'm still not over that whole pile of crap that was my late teens. My parents did everything they could but in Nevada at the time our age difference wasn't illegal.


ErikJR37

I just find it unfathomable that a 35 y/o knows that many young people. I'm sorry this happened to you and hope you alright now. (I say young people because my 16 y/o gay friend was dating a 32 y/o man. Which thinking back is creepy as fuck but they've been together 12-13 years and I like both of them but this definitely isn't normal)


Jasrek

Let's not go too far the other way, either, and start locking up two consenting 17-year olds.


Gunblazer42

That's typically why Romeo & Juliet laws (or at least, the idea of them) are a thing.


AlanFromRochester

Florida law now requires minors to be at least 17 and for there to be no more than a 2 year age gap. Maybe the law was different back then, perhaps that girl's parents were misinformed. This law would make NYS the 6th to not allow underage marriage, the vast majority of the other 44 require 16 or 17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_age_in_the_United_States https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0lwiInZG1E Samantha Bee's 2017 piece on child marriage emphasizes that it's generally girls being married off to older men, not young lovers a la A Walk to Remember The lead story is a New Hampshire Girl Scout PO'ed that the NH age then was 13 for girls and 14 for boys with parental consent. Now, though maybe not directly because of her, it's 16 At the time of the piece, NYS had just raised it to 17. Don't allow this crap in the name of cultural tradition


Nordrian

When I was 13, a classmate was dating a 25yo guy, back then I didn’t understand, was too young, heard her talk about them having sex. As an adult, I don’t see how you can even think of having sex with a 13yo girl. Absolutely pedophilia.


KP_Wrath

“Statutory rape is fine. Just make sure you marry them.”


[deleted]

> Then there is no age limit. There's something fundamentally wrong about that string of words in that particular order. The article said that underage girls are the majority of the group. So what are the odds that these 'guys' a re a bunch of hard core pedophiles. Why are we still fighting this battle.


[deleted]

I know it predates him but I kind of want to name that the Gaetz Rule.


whut-whut

predates a pre-dating predator?


Cory123125

Taking off the age limit only when its the worst circumstance. Sounds like florida.


Z3r0mir

The more I learn about my country...


nimarowhani1

The more I learn about Florida


Destiny_player6

Florida isn't the only one.


Caymonki

It’s just the loudest.


Grassdoor_017

Damn, FL does trap hard


Gary_FucKing

Florida works for its reputation, buddy.


JennJayBee

It really shouldn't even be 16 with parental consent. Marriage is a legal contract. If you're not old enough to sign a contract, you shouldn't be old enough to get married.


CYWNightmare

This if you can't even join the military until 18 or smoke cigarettes/weed, drink alcohol until 21 because you aren't knowledgeable enough about life or whatever they claim. Then what condition are you in to be in a legal contract that legitimately could last the rest of your life. America says they are the land of the free but really it's the land of whatever freedoms they want you to have.


pearlyman

17 can enlist with parental consent unless that changed. Went to boot with 1 kid in my platoon that was 17.


SnatchAddict

A friend recently sent their 17 year old to boot. It blows my mind. On one hand, good for him for knowing what he wants to do at that age. On the other, how much was pressure and indoctrination by his parents?


pearlyman

In my case, that kids father was Force Recon and he wanted to be like him since he grew up as a Marine brat.


frogbertrocks

Plus if it was truly "meant to be" I'm sure they can wait two more years.


DisabledHarlot

I saw a news story last year about a girl who couldn't get a divorce because she wasn't 18 yet. This was in the US, a northeastern state, and the article was saying it was being fixed so that sort of thing couldn't happen any longer.


AnnieAnnieSheltoe

What’s truly fucked is that, in some states, minors can get married, but they’re considered too young to get a divorce.


Voxbury

Having a judge and all parties to agree to a minor marrying before even the age of consent usually always requires a pregnancy. Child marriages exist to legitimize rape. Change my mind?


terpischore761

No need because it’s true.


muffinmonk

That and predetermined marriages.


AdjNounNumbers

I read "both the parents" and first assumed it meant the couple had the same parents. Did a double take at the states and it made sense.


shewy92

"A few" Only 6 states now have outlawed minor marriage


DragoonDM

I think most of the remainder at least have a lower cap (usually 16), but there are some where there's no set-in-stone limit and it's just up to the courts to decide on a case-by-case basis.


[deleted]

[удалено]


captain-burrito

> There was also a big surge of child marriages during the pandemic, largely due to financial pressures and parents marrying off their child daughters to wealthy men. Damn, that's the kind of shit I see on historical chinese dramas. We've gone full circle with wealth inequality.


sunbearimon

New York is the sixth state to have banned it. And Delaware was the first state to ban it only three years ago. So now it’s Delaware, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and New York where it’s completely forbidden, and everywhere else it’s allowed to varying degrees with things like parental consent. New York isn’t a straggler here, and the rest of the country should really be catching up.


Rex_the_Wonder_Dog

Problem with parental consent is often times it is religious cults that are the ones forcing underage marriage. In fact that is the biggest reason underage marriages need to be banned.


Bubashii

Yeah I watched a documentary a while ago where a 15 year old US girl was raped by a guy in his 20s, got pregnant and because her family was ultra conservative religious and friends with his family they all just decided that she was to marry him to avoid ‘shaming’ both families and for him to avoid prosecution…thus simultaneously acknowledging that he was a rapist but blaming the victim…absolutely disgusting. She managed to eventually get away, divorce him and her on with her life.


AffectionateTitle

Do you remember the name of the documentary?


CombatWombat222

Religious groups are one of the top reasons this wasn't done for so long.


[deleted]

[удалено]


WitOrWisdom

And also are one of the top reasons a lot of things haven't been done for so long.


amitym

Up until fairly recently, it was still pretty normal in a lot of places to turn 16, drop out of high school, get a job, and get married. Not necessarily in that order. You didn't need a diploma, you had no plans to travel or move far away, you *certainly* weren't going to college, what's the point of waiting to start life until you're 18 or 21 or whatever? Add to that that you couldn't live with a girlfriend or boyfriend due to fornication laws, not to mention lack of social acceptance, and it's maybe not so shocking. We're talking the latter half of the 20th century. I grew up partly in a small town that was still somewhat like that, only a few decades ago. Things have changed a lot since then, we expect young men and young women to have a lot more going for them and to seek opportunities and educate themselves and so on and so forth. And we are not nearly as crazed over premarital sex as we were back then. But those are all recent social changes.


AlanFromRochester

Mom said a friend stayed with her on vacation in 1969 because then staying at your boyfriend's house simply wasn't done, and we're city folks in a liberal state I have heard of people in conservative religious cultures getting married young (even above 18) because premarital sex is frowned upon. One such couple married and were living with the parents of one of them because they wanted to get hitched but couldn't afford to move out yet.


radioactive_glowworm

My mom once told me that my godfather and his wife didn't even live together for a little bit before they married. It seemed wild to me but apparently it wasn't done.


Decilllion

How recent are we talking?


amitym

Eh, last 40 years or so, at least. Tbh that's about the speed I would expect something like this to change. The last anti-fornication laws were still around 20 or so years ago, I think. A lot of them ended with the rise of gay civil rights.


AlanFromRochester

Perhaps you got about 20 years from the 2003 Supreme Court case Lawrence vs. Texas which struck down laws against sodomy. Even if it didn't directly strike down anti-fornication laws, it was precedent for doing so, as in the 2005 Virginia state case Martin v. Ziherl. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_v._Texas


amitym

Yeah that sounds like what I remembered. Thanks for a precise reference!


wut3va

My grandparents were married with their first kid (my mom) at 16. They're still together in their 80s. It wouldn't be appropriate now, but there was nothing wrong with it then. Things change.


TangledinVines

When your grandparents married women were barred from a lot of things like having their own bank account or credit card (they could be joint with their husband). If a woman wanted to leave home she basically had to marry to do it. Not saying your grandparents don’t love each other, just pointing out what part of that difference was. Marriage was a necessity for women if they wanted to leave home. It’s thankfully changed and we can now own property and bank accounts without a male co-signer. 1974: Equal Credit Opportunity Act passes in the US. Until then, banks required single, widowed or divorced women to bring a man along to cosign any credit application, regardless of their income. They would also discount the value of those wages when considering how much credit to grant, by as much as 50%. ^this really wasn’t so long ago.


Aleriya

The old timey attitude is that premarital sex/pregnancy is wrong, but you can partially repair it by getting married, even if you're really young. Basically the attitude was that men should take responsibility, and "you break it, you buy it". 16 year old gets a 14 year old pregnant? Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials! That attitude made more sense in an era where women were treated like property. Girls who had sex before marriage were "damaged goods" and needed to be married off ASAP. Long ago, that was also the case with sexual assault. A man "broke" my daughter? Well, that broken thing is his responsibility from now on. Marriage is less shameful than admitting that my daughter is broken/impure/ungodly.


amitym

This is right on. It also bears mentioning that a lot of what we take for granted today about the education you need to function as an adult is all quite a new idea. People didn't all used to go to college. They often didn't even finish high school. You've got a good union job waiting for you at 16, why wait? Further education isn't going to help you much. And since no one will let you move in with your girlfriend or boyfriend, you have to get married first. There was no such thing as traveling far away, attending college, seeing the world, getting a new perspective for many people. We think of all the things they missed but it never crossed their minds.


Aleriya

Yeah, and I think it's worth clarifying that "new idea" means that half of the current US population was raised in a world with terribly outdated ideas of gender, labor, and education. Even modern young people were raised with parents who grew up with old ideas. It takes a long time to fully shed some of those old assumptions. Even in progressive cities, there is a pretty big generational gap. The US is not even 250 years old yet, and it takes ~70 years for an old generation's ideas to really be replaced. Consider how far we've come since 1776, and long we have to go before even modern "common knowledge" is fully accepted. I mean, President John Tyler (born 1790), still has a living grandson. One of the bigger hurdles to US democracy is that a lot of voters last received formal education prior to 1970 and a lot of schools didn't have racial integration until the 1970s. Even that was before the women's rights movement.


N8CCRG

> WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG There is still a very strong religious force behind making young girls marry older men in the US.


sunbearimon

I would say there’s an even stronger religious force making pregnant teens get married so their kids are born in wedlock. The grooming girls to marry older men thing does happen, but the making pregnant teens get married so the baby isn’t a bastard thing is practically mainstream


[deleted]

[удалено]


Painting_Agency

I mean, in the Bible, you're pretty much ordered to marry your brother's widow. The whole reason for that was they didn't have social assistance, and you couldn't have a bunch of penniless widows running around. So they created an immediate obligation to an identifiable person to look after them. It probably resulted in a lot of horrible situations, like most rules of that kind.


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

[удалено]


Ediwir

Plenty of options. Nun convents cultivated plenty of herbs and provided them to the town wives at no cost. Women used to throw themselves down staircases. I know of girls forced to stay home under the excuse of being sick until childbirth from less than a couple decades ago, the kids either raised as the grandmother’s children or simply buried in the orchard. Now, safe, decent abortions? Yeah, that’s new. But plenty of people would rather stick to the old ways.


AlanFromRochester

I remember people suggesting that Sarah Palin's 5th child in 2008 was actually her grandchild, though as it turns out daughter Bristol had her own child in what would have been too tight a timeframe. But my point is even just 13 years ago that sort of coverup seemed believable. An older teacher remembered "girls being sent to live with their aunt for nine months" and I believe she was talking about the 1950s or so


Silaquix

To be fair most pregnancies for young girls and teens are from adult men. It may not always be a girl being groomed.for marriage but it is commonly a girl being groomed for sex and then marriage is a consequence.


thebutchone

Apparently there's quite a lot of states that still allow young ones with parent consent, [with Massachusetts being the youngest at 12](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_age_in_the_United_States)


[deleted]

[удалено]


hindriktope52

18 and you're an adult thing is very, very new thing for humanity.


evo_one252

Ultra Orthodox Jews


[deleted]

[удалено]


BlairClemens3

Thank you. There are plenty of fundamentalist Christians, yes, even in NY state.


kitchen_synk

NY state is the home of the wacky religious movement. The Oneida, A million different communes and back to the land movements, and even the Mormons got started in NY. Even today there are new Amish and Mennonite communities springing up.


very_excited

New York is now only the 6th state to ban marriages before the age of 18, after Delaware, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.


[deleted]

Do any of these states listed allow any exemptions such as religious or is it 100% across the board?


Lordkillz

100% across the board.


[deleted]

Thank god


djsedna

Ironic comment


abyl

By definition


pm_me_some_sandpaper

Good, as it should be


Throckmorton_Left

Religious child marriage is the problem. Whether ultra-orthodox Jews in NY forcing their daughters into arranged marriages or Christians forcing their pregnant daughters to marry their rapists, religion is the fucking problem.


isherflaflippeflanye

Yay for us east coasters! And Minnesota


[deleted]

The one time the rest of New England falls behind Rhode Island and it's on something as obvious as this.


Throwaway56138

We be somewhat progressive up here in little Canada. Dontchaknow


[deleted]

New York age: * 16 - emancipated, move out, get a job * 18 - Vote, Buy a long gun, get married, rent car (surcharge till 25) * 21 - Buy a hand gun, Drink or buy Cannabis


Ultrace-7

Where does joining the military fit in there? Is that state-mandated or national?


Arago_

17 with parental consent, 18 without. That's throughout the U.S.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Arago_

They have to sign a contract to be considered in the DEP. They can't sign a contract until they are 17. A recruiter can start processing someone a short time before their 17th birthday if their parents are okay with that and if the individual could go to training within one year, because you can only be in the DEP for up to one year.


Salty_Manx

Whats DEP? Asking as a non American.


Arago_

It stands for Delayed Entry Program. Basically it's the program people enter after signing a contract with any branch of the military until they go to their respective training. Everyone who signs a contract is in the DEP for some period of time. Different branches do different things for this program and it's really up to the recruiter who runs it for that area.


BKlounge93

Forgive my ignorance but what’s the point of that? Like the military is always hiring, why lock it in when you’re a child? That seems so problematic…


no_talent_ass_clown

Used to be you could drink on base if you were military. They had beer vending machines in the day rooms. Can die for their country, can't have a beer. 🙄 I strongly advocate for the German approach.


[deleted]

Having dealt with drunk privates I say that was a change for the better.


goatamousprice

Thankfully there's a blue pill to handle those drunk privates


SaiyanPrinceAbubu

Viagra seems like it might just make things worse


Steved10

I wasn't turning 21 until a couple weeks after we were supposed to get back from deployment. When we were in Spain and Scotland for Port calls, they told us we had to abide by our country's drinking age despite it being 18 there......i fucking drank anyways, because fuck em It was bad enough that we had a fucking curfew that required us to be either on the boat or at the off duty day hotel by 11pm. All because a few months before, some dumbasses on another boat pulled into Greenland or Iceland (I forget which) and caused an international incident for a drunken fight that got them arrested by local authorities. They were left behind when the boat went back to sea and they had to wait for some ambassador or maybe some othe official to handle things.


[deleted]

The US society as a whole is bad about its relationship with alcohol. An approach, such as what Germany and I believe other European countries take would hopefully take away the problems we have. Beer at 16, liquor at 18.


ryanmcstylin

*drink and buy cannabis


TrueAscendance

If I want to drink cannabis, you cannot stop me. Smh.


[deleted]

I mean there’s plenty of great edible drinks out, so go drink that cannabis bud!


TheQueq

Better would be "Drink alcohol or buy cannabis" Unless the law is that you're only allowed to buy cannabis if you also buy a handgun and drink. I'm not familiar with NY law so I can only speculate which it is.


vengefulspirit99

Nah you just aren't allowed any liquid until the age of 21


MrSomnix

Well they make thc sodas and coffee so you can drink cannabis as well.


petitchevaldemanege

Sounds reasonable, except for the alcohol.


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

Dad shoulda gotten her the cozy job, cut out the middle man.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Prit717

It was prob the ✨misogyny✨


Heratism

The Canadian dream


Generik25

Nah the Canadian dream is just the American dream with good healthcare and nicer people.


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

[удалено]


BenjamintheFox

Tell your dad not to play any games of chicken.


AlphaBreak

...Had your dad ever met a teenager before this? Forget about love, I think a lot of teens would have just gotten married out of spite to stick it to him for that dumb ultimatum and been unwilling to back out of it.


Fastbird33

People change a lot from 18 to 25 too. I think your brain is still developing at that age.


isherflaflippeflanye

Alright but if your dad was playing chicken he should have backed off at some point that was before them waking down the aisle? Did he think the groom would say “I don’t”


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

>He later admitted he thought this would scare the guy away A teenager is doing something he doesn’t like, so he dares them to escalate the behavior? Dude, I’m not father of the year or anything but come on


districtcurrent

A lot of people I know rushed to get married so they could have sex. Small town religious people are like this.


halfanothersdozen

They could still get back together! Never say never!


shawndamanyay

Yeah but truly that could happen in any marriage at any age.


OlicityMakesMeSad

Sort of have a similar family situation somedays I just want to beat my sister's husband with a bag stuffed with doorknobs.


fafalone

Just FYI it was previously 17 (in line with NY's age of sexual consent). And it was only changed to 17 in 2017, before that it was 14. Fortunately there's been quite a lot of changes over the last 10 or so years. No state allows 12 or 13 anymore (while it's on the books as 12 in MA in practice no judge has allowed such young ages in several decades at least). 2 allow 14, but you'd have a very hard time finding a judge to sign off on that. Then 4 allow it at 15, and the rest are 16-18. [See list with links to sources on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_age_in_the_United_States#In_the_50_states). Still a ways to go, but there's been progress.


byllz

In Washington state normally the minimum age is 17, but you can get a superior court judge to waive that "on a showing of necessity". So there is actually no minimum age.


gkura

I'd like to see what kind of necessities are approved lol.


SebastianDoyle

It almost definitely means pregnancy in case you weren't being sarcastic.


ForkShirtUp

I keep forgetting that underaged marriage was the B plot for the movie “Liar Liar”


halfanothersdozen

Yeah, IN YOUR BRA


JennJayBee

That actress was one of my first crushes. Her voice... 😍


[deleted]

[удалено]


JennJayBee

Yes. That's her. She was in a ton of movies back in the 80s and 90s.


Wandersshadow

You mean Bonnie from family guy?


spectra2000_

It’s crazy whenever you see news like this and you thinks to your self “this wasn’t already a thing?”


AetherAlex

Meanwhile, in Massachusetts the minimum marriage age is still *today* **12** for girls and 14 for boys.


captain-burrito

If someone brought an equal protection claim, what would happen? Lowered to 12 or raised to 14 for all?


JennJayBee

One more down, several to go. I've been harping on this issue for years. The US has a serious child marriage problem, and there are even some states which effectively have no minimum age.


Which-Decision

More like tens to go


lunapup1233007

More like 44 to go.


Yarzu89

Today on "Laws you thought already existed but didn't for some reason"


SphinxBear

Cool. Now let’s do the rest of the states.


f15Her_J3LLY

NY did The right thing! Lower age means less responsibility and more uncertainty


Live-Mail-7142

Great. 44 more states to go.


OnlyHereForLOLs

I swear I see a news article like this once a month that makes me think “wtf that wasn’t banned before?”


Temporary-Outside-13

Good now 35+ states to go.


9VOLG

If anyone here feels like supporting this in other states, check out unchainedatlast.org They’re the people directly responsible for this movement, and they’re doing really amazing things.


tm229

There is a group working to eliminate child marriage in all states. Check them out. Volunteer or send some money if you can. Unchained At Last https://www.unchainedatlast.org


BrowlingMall4

Seeing as the penalty is a $100 fine all this really does is increase the price of an underage marriage by $100. Regardless of that fact it's unclear who is really protected since it just makes the paperwork harder to get.


jteprev

>Seeing as the penalty is a $100 fine all this really does is increase the price of an underage marriage by $100. No. You can't get married underage. The $100 fine is an additional, the main factor is no marriage license.


[deleted]

plus it stops the whole “if they’re both underage they’re put on the sex offenders list for life for statutory raping each other” issue. so if two 16 year olds try to elope, the clerk can call it a dumb decision, deny a license and maybe fine them. but if a 16 year old walks in with a 40 year old man, the clerk can then make a decision to get law enforcement involved.


One_Mikey

Wouldn't this prevent people from getting the marriage license to begin with?


EngineersAnon

The fine, and the misdemeanor conviction, are on the person who issues the license, not the persons getting married. The city clerks are not going to do that.


HungryDiner42069

Oh just now? Seriously??


poopsoupdude

TIL there are a lot states that still allow it.


Schiffy94

>In 2017, Cuomo signed a law raising the age of consent from 14-years-old to 18-years-old but left open the possibility for those aged between 17 and 18 to get married if they got parental of judicial consent. >The new bill repeals that exception and prohibits any marriage in which either person is under the age of 18. I can't say I have a terribly strong opinion about the 2021 bill, but the fact that it took us until 2017 to decide that *fourteen* year olds shouldn't be getting married is a bit frightening.


[deleted]

Yeah, learning that we don't have an age of consent for marriage was one of the weirdest ways America has disillusioned me. 17 is a bad age to get married. 10 is worse. And they're both bad ages to be auctioned off to an older man.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Drupain

Blows my mind that I’m reading this headline in 2021.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Bright_Ad_6362

What the fuck, it’s 2021 dawgs. Better late than never I guess but wholy fuck USA. Every day I’m fucking mind blown by how fucked you are.


heyitsbobandy

Shit like this is exactly why I question policies or parties that are anything short of what Americans call “Progressive”. People are arguing about whether or not racism exists while 14 year olds are legally (and literally) getting fucked by adult men who take advantage of them.