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Comparing Same-Sex Marriage To Marrying Cousins? Just The Start

by Philip Bump | 10:18 am, January 9th, 2010

» 7 comments

You may have seen two maps circling the web over the past few weeks (for example, at Queerty or Gothamist). Created, it appears, by The New York Times (though I can’t find an article in their archives), the maps are a compelling point in the debate over same-sex marriage. How is it that states that are perfectly comfortable with allowing first cousins to get hitched throw down the gauntlet over the same-sex variety?

There is another major comparison to draw. First, though, our (larger) versions of the initial maps (including some updated information).

Data from Wikipedia.

Data from the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The difference is stark – exactly why the comparison is going viral. Let’s add another comparison to the mix:

Data from Wikipedia.

But here is the real killer.

Data from CoolNurse.com.

That’s right – in nearly every state in the Union, it’s perfectly okay for children as young as 15 to get married. In New Hampshire, you can be 13; South Carolina, 14, only requiring parental consent. Not a single state requires that everyone getting married be 18, without exception. In Florida, not only can minors wed, but minors who have been married before don’t need their parents’ permission.

Many of these states, coincidentally, allow people below the minimum age to get married with certain qualifications met, usually getting permission from the court. In other words, the state gets to decide if children barely in their teens get married or not. The usual cause for such a request, of course, is if a teen gets pregnant.

If you want a larger graphic including all four graphs, you can download it here.

Gay Marriage, Gay Marriage Constitutional Ban, Kissing Cousins, Legal Age For Cousins To Marry, Philip Bump, Sam-Sex Marriage

m

I guess marrying your cousin or marrying a 13 year old is more proper family values than gay marriage.
SWWT

It probably was 100 years ago, they probably just need to update the laws.
pyrope

There are lots of antiquated laws on the books in all states. It seems I heard that it is against the law to ride a horse while you have a duck on your head, somewhere in the US. That said, I believe marriage between members of the same sex should be OUTLAWED, as it is contradictory to the laws of nature. Civil unions? OK. Marriage? NO.
http://www.pbump.net Philip Bump

I think the “archaic law” argument is specious. After all, many of these states were so concerned about protecting the sanctity of marriage that they amended their Constitutions to ban same-sex marriages.

There’s been a lot of ink and fomentation expended on the topic of marriage; to pretend that these bizarre age standards have passed unnoticed or that people will get to it when they have the time is simply excuse-making.
DanaDanger

The constitutional ban map has more than a few states shaded that don’t actually have constitutional bans, like Indiana and Illinois. At first I thought you were simply including states with statutory bans, but I see Minnesota and Wyoming (both of which have statutory bans) are unshaded. Meanwhile, Arkansas, which does have a constitutional ban, is unshaded. This map probably needs to be relabeled to explain more clearly what exactly you’re depicting, or—and this is more likely, I think—it might need to be redone altogether.

This doesn’t change the conclusion, of course. But it would be nice to have accurate maps.
M@

I think we need to shift the focus from same-sex marriage to queer equality. People need to understand that we are equals, and our rights are not for them to withhold.
Hahafag

what rights?