Re-Definition of Marriage and Establishment of Civil Unions Bill

[DanielX]

I have one quibble with this bill: it more-or-less prohibits those under the age of 18 from marrying. Now, I can understand forbidding a 45 year old from marrying a 15 year old, but among some groups marriage of, say, two 15 year olds, is fairly common - for instance, Hassidic Jews.

[DanielX]

I'd be suspicious of any two 15 year olds getting married within a religious group as it sounds like an arranged marriage.  Good reason to opppose the legality of underage marriages.

The problem is that...

a. Not all marriages of this type (especially when you get into 16-17 year olds) are arranged, or at least not without the consent of the partners;
b. You'd have to, at minimum, recognize marriages from other countries, or else you'd have problems with immigrants. In which case, your arranged-marriage fiends would simply fly the kids of to Vzrglstan to get married, then fly them back.

[DanielX]

All right, i've got another quibble with the law: Marriage isn't normally a Federal issue (or at least it used to not be... ). I'd support a law that gave perogative to the Regions - but this only puts the Feds even further into the fray.

[DanielX]

Yea

[DanielX]

Nay