Marriageable age: With parental/guardian's permission, as young as 13 in some places in America.

[Poll_Blind]

  With the alleged abuse of minors at the hands of a Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints group in Texas, I remembered something (oddly enough) from the documentary "Waco: Rules of Engagement" where the sheriff addresses charges of child sexual abuse by David Koresh. During his answer, if I recall correctly, he notes that it's important to remember that "Children as young as 12 can get married with parental consent." in his county.

  Kind of a jaw-dropper, isn't it?

  From a bit of Wiki-ing, it seems that 13 is the youngest marriageable age in the U.S. That distinction belongs to New Hampshire, interestingly enough. However, New Hampshire is certainly not the only place in America where what we think of as "children" may be married. For instance, I found that the great state of New York will also happily marry a 14 year-old under certain circumstances. I invite you to have a look at the Wiki page on Marriageable age to learn more about marriage laws in your state.

  Many states are adopting more detailed versions of their marriage laws which stipulate, for instance, that marriage at such a young age may not be to a party more than X years older. But, typically these young marriages occur in strongly religious communities which follow what might be euphemistically described as "older ways", and are not often brought to the general public's attention.

  The variance between what we expect the law to be vs. what it actually is doesn't come to light unless there are cases like this in the media spotlight.

  If you find these laws repugnant, do something about them:

  Contact your state legislators and let them know how you feel.

PB

[pitohui]

1. look, these kids weren't married, they were "spiritually married" (no legal rights as wives)

it may be that these laws are on the books but i'd be mighty damn surprised if a bunch of flds whackjobs could move into new hampshire and start raping 13 years on the temple altar and nobody says "boo" for FOUR freaking years even tho there's an undercover officer on the scene!

keep in mind these kids were NOT married, they did not have the legal protection of marriage, they were "spiritually married" in other words, raped, turned into baby-making machines, and kept as possessions with NONE, as in ZERO, of the legal right to the men's property that a real wife would have

the 14 year old you're talking about in new hampshire, well, that's a shitty deal, but if her husband has some land and a ranch, guess what, bunky, it's HER land and HER ranch too, if he gets some income, she gets a piece of it too, if he gets health care thru his job so does she


these children at the rape ranch were NOT married in any way, shape, or form, they were kept as baby-making property, could one of them file for divorce and get a share of the value of the ranch in her pocket and start a new life, er, that would be a "NO"

i can't believe we've had so much debate about marriage in this country, and people still don't know that marriage is a legal, financial contract

[aquart]

2. Exactly!

Keep making that point. Eventually it may sink in.

[kestrel91316]

3. GREAT post!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

4. Excellent response to the OP. Thank you for stating it so clearly. :)

[gollygee]

5. Excellent post!

They were not married. They were raped. And they were abused and groomed from early childhood so they wouldn't fight it when it came. It is appalling that there are people here at DU defending them.