California has officially banned child marriage, with Governor Gavin Newsom signing legislation to end the practice that is still legal in 32 US states.
The new law, which will come into effect on 1 January, states people must be 18 to get married in the Golden State.
Newsom called it a “long overdue measure to protect young Californians and minors”. He signed the bill into law with Courtney Stodden, whose parents allowed her to marry a 50-year-old Hollywood actor when she was just 16.
Weird how the USA has so much in common with countries like Saudi Arabia, yemen, Somalia
Map of places where a judge can OK a marriage. I’m not saying the USA is good, but Europe has plenty of spots wheee you can technically marry as a 16 year old (or less). Worldwide problem.
I’ll never say no to a map
Yeah, marriage at 16 with parental consent is pretty commonly allowed throughout the world.
What’s going on with China? Some kind of longitude dependant system?
The minimum age differs by gender. Minimum age for men is 22, minimum age for women is 20.
I was joking, but that sounds stupid.
So, apparently, does France. France has the same exceptions to allow 16 year olds to marry adults. And Spain. And Italy. And virtually the entirety of Eastern Europe. Belgium has no minimum age as long as a judge allows it.
If you look at the map of where minors can get married to adults without parental consent, Scotland is more lenient than anywhere in the US. Scotland is actually one of a tiny tiny few countries that allow minors to marry adults without any exceptions required. Adults can just outright marry children in Scotland without issue. Only 7 countries in the world allow that. Most in Africa and the Middle East. And then Scotland.
Y’all Qaeda lives
Its not popular - hence why it’s changing. Nuance is lost on the internet, but people really need to start chilling out about making blanket assumptions of huge swaths of people.
Its one of the “automatic assumptions” people have - that it IS illegal. So they wouldn’t bother looking it up.
Most Americans don’t have the slightest idea of what is/isn’t legal. Gotta remember, before the internet, you had to get a physical copy of your state’s statutes. These change frequently, and are quite large.
Legalinfo first started in 1994, and it took a much longer time before states have their own websites.
Yes, there are literalist religious people everywhere.
For those who don’t understand why child marriage is usually a spectacularly bad idea for the underaged partner in one:
https://unchainedatlast.org/child-marriage-in-the-u-s/
Also includes map of which states allow underage marriage and under what conditions, as well as a map of youngest allowable marriage in that state (apparently both NM and MS have no lower limit).
Basically exactly what I expected the map, save for 2
Kudos to Oklahoma. Would not have expected them to have strong anti-child marriage laws
Shame on Illinois. Didn’t expect them to be so receptive of child marriage
Sorry to any other outliars I may have missed. Generally seems to be Republicans in favor of child marriage, with Democratic states banning it
This is how I learned there is at least one state (Mississipi) where you can get married aged 0
Now how are Republicans supposed to get a date?
By force, of course.
Marriage is a contract. People can’t enter into contract under 18 without parental consent. Why is this true, but somehow a child has capacity to enter a life long contract of marriage? I get parental consent is needed for child marriage, but it still makes no sense to have a child enter a contract this intense at an age they can’t do it without parental consent. You can’t vote or serve in the military yet, but you have the capacity to enter a marriage contract? That’s fucking stupid.
Marriage is a government tax and legal document. It doesn’t give, take, or mandate much else.
It originally started as a religious practice then became codified into law
But Heaven forbid you marry more than one person, because then the government might send you to jail.
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