Re: So we got caught, so what? But we did the right thing.
On Tue, 2006-04-18 at 22:11 -0700, Thomas Bushnell BSG wrote:
> Ron Johnson <ron.l.johnson@cox.net> writes:
>
> >> Still, regardless of whether the state of Utah recognizes a marriage,
> >> that is surely a different question from whether the marriage has, in
> >> fact, occurred.
> >
> > Making that distinction is, IMO, cracking open a very large barrel
> > of very nasty monkeys.
>
> Not really. Suppose we have two seventeen-year-olds, whose parents
> are opposed to their marriage. In Utah, you can only get married
> without parental consent if you are eighteen. But these happy folks
> of seventeen are in Mississippi, where their marriage is legal even
> without parental consent.
Suppose Mississippi allows bigamy...
Or, more in keeping with the traditions of the region (remember
Jerry Lee Louis?), drops the age of consent to 12, and a 35yo man
marries a 12yo girl.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/africanlives/ivory/ivory.htm
The practice of forcing girls into marriage took hold decades
ago throughout sub-Saharan Africa and is especially widespread
in countries there with large Muslim populations.
The marriages typically occur within clans, the girl compelled
to wed a distant relative—often two or three times he
Is a man with a child bride who immigrate from Ivory still legally
married in the US?
> Then, they move to Utah, and enroll in BYU. Would BYU say "ah, in
> Utah, you cannot be married until you are eighteen, so, sorry, no, you
> are expelled"?! Of course not. BYU would say, "While you cannot
> marry in Utah at your age, you can in Mississippi, and you did, and
> God bless, you are married."
>
> So the rule BYU would invoke would not be "we only recognize marriages
> that would be legal under the laws of Utah". The rule would be "we
> recognize different-sex marriages no matter where performed, provided
> they are legal under the local laws where performed, and same sex
> marriages, never, no matter what."
--
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Ron Johnson, Jr.
Jefferson, LA USA
"The warning message we sent the Russians was a calculated
ambiguity that would be clearly understood."
Alexander Haig
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