Louisiana has finally set an age limit on marriage

[conuly]

I'd be happier with a full ban until the legal age of majority, but it's better than it was.

Nearly all states allow child marriage in some or all cases, and nearly 40% allow it at age 14 or have no lower age limit. If this is something you care about, please write to your state legislators and ask them to address this issue. You might also wish to write to your national congresscritters on this one - this is yet another issue I don't think should be solely handled by the states. At the very least, Louisiana's new law sets a bare minimum - none before 16, 16 and 17 year olds can only marry people no more than 4 years older and only with consent of both the parents AND a judge. Like I said, it's not ideal, but it's better than the current national standard which... well, there isn't one.

Comments

[sovay]

Nearly all states allow child marriage in some or all cases, and nearly 40% allow it at age 14 or have no lower age limit.

"While the general legal age for marriage in Massachusetts is 18, children may be married with judicial consent with no minimum age limit. In the absence of any statutory minimum age, one opinion is that the traditional minimum common law marriageable age of 12 for girls and 14 for boys may still be in effect."

Damn, Massachusetts. That is not ahead of the curve."

[lilysea]

Here in Australia, you must be at least 18 years old,

unless a court has approved a marriage where one party is aged between 16 and 18 years old.

The courts do NOT give permission lightly - there have been a lot of news articles about how "being pregnant is not grounds for the court to permit someone who is 16 or 17 to marry"

"If you are aged between 16 and 18, or the person you want to marry is aged between 16 and 18, you can apply to the Family Court or Magistrates Court to get married.

A Court will only allow you to get married if you can prove that there are unusual or exceptional circumstances. This means that these orders are given in very rare situations. The Court will look at the specific facts and circumstances specific to your relationship when making the decision about whether or not to make an order. This might include:

your maturity;
the length of your relationship with your partner;
your financial situation;
how independent you are as a couple;
why you want to get married; and
what your families think of you getting married.

In order to get married, you must also have permission from the parent/guardian of the person who is under 18. If the parent/guardian refuses to give permission, you can make an application to the Court to allow the relationships to continue without the permission of the parent/guardian. The Court will only grant this in very rare cases and this will depend on the exact reasons why the permission was not given.

If you are given permission to get married, you must get married within 3 months of getting permission from the Court."

[conuly]

Complain, complain, complain. You're a voter. This law sucks.

[sovay]

You're a voter. This law sucks.

I am, but I have to know about an issue before I can vote on it, and now I know. (I also know who to ask about it, which is a totally random side effect of starting a new social activity.)

[conuly]

Oh, I wasn't blaming you for not knowing. We can't possibly know everything.

[conuly]

I'm not thrilled with any loopholes, but if they're really tight it's sort of okay.

[thornsilver]

I have known about these laws for a while, and it is honestly mind boggling to me that they have not been changed. I guess it's a start?

[conuly]

What gets me is not that they haven't been changed, but that efforts to change them - even baby step efforts! - are met with opposition!

[redbird]

OK, something to call my representatives for (spoons allowing) that I'm fairly sure they aren't already actively on the right side of. (I am quite happy with my current state senator and representative (Jehlen and Provost.))

[jessie_c]

The Roy Moores of the country don't want to change their filthy habits, and don't want to be reminded that ordinary decent people don't approve of them.

[silverusagi]

I was astonished when I first saw the piece that Full Frontal did on this. There was a Girl Scout trying to lobby to get the law in her state changed, and one of the lawmakers condescendingly said that children weren't mature enough to understand laws. Well, maybe they're also not mature enough to get married, then!

[conuly]

SERIOUSLY.

[lilysea]

but that efforts to change them - even baby step efforts! - are met with opposition!

Is the opposition because of the Mormon families where people are entering into arranged marriages at young ages?

Or is it from purity-pledge Christians who would rather see young teenagers married than having sex before marriage?

[conuly]

Because of GOP shenanigans. Family values and parental rights, you know.

[pauamma]

France used to have different ages for men (18) and women (15). This was changed at the same time same-sex marriage was introduced in 2013, I suspect to avoid having 2 teenage women marrying.

[ayebydan]

Ew. It is 16 here but that is also the age you are deemed an adult. Also our age of consent. This is just....saddening.

[zesty_pinto]

Nothing helps my cringe as much as knowing that a part of the country is still allowing some True Detective-like crap to go on. LA doesn't surprise me though, sadly. Did you read about how it took until recently for Shreveport to lift a fine on saggy pants?

[silveradept]

Looking on the wiki, it appears 17 is the minimum age, unless the Superior Court gets involved, for the state I'm in. I'm not thrilled with the idea of loopholes, but it sounds like there's a fairly high bar to meet in the "showing of necessity" part, given that it requires a Superior Court judge to even look at it.

I could be mistaken.