tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8213262.post8648989701907768972..comments2024-03-25T07:29:08.216-04:00Comments on 2 Political Junkies: Obama's extension of same-sex benefits with all the asterisksMariahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10439330154875628083noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8213262.post-17890307306060602982009-06-23T10:44:26.655-04:002009-06-23T10:44:26.655-04:00To be fair, there are only a few major ways in whi...To be fair, there are only a few major ways in which state laws on marriage differ. By "major," I mean "differ to the degree that one state will not recognize a marriage legally performed in another state." <br /><br />And what do those issues entail? Age, and degree of relatedness. <br /><br />I find it careless (at best) and offensive (at worse) for the gay community's mouthpieces to needlessly call out & offend states that do allow marriage at a young age and/or between more closely related people. "Child abuse" and "incest" are fighting words. <br /><br />Yes, it seems like there should be good theoretical reasons for close cousins not to breed. But (newsflash!) not all married couples have kids. And anyway, a lot of good science says that the inbreeding risk is not as high as most people (or most doctors) assume. See the "cousins marrying cousins" section of http://chemistry.typepad.com/the_great_mate_debate/dan_savage/page/2/<br /><br />Yes, people who marry young don't do so well, statistically, in the happy marriage department. But if 16 year olds get married, with parental consent, in a state that allows such marriages, do you want to call that child abuse? <br /><br />IMHO, what's the benefit of offending not only those who married young (in, oh, the last 60+ years) and couples who are cousins? And also residents of states that allow such marriages? And also perhaps, people who have suffered incest or child abuse, and don't really benefit from seeing those tags hung on fairly non-offensive acts carried out by two rational, consenting persons?Joyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14932097432487112860noreply@blogger.com