Posted on 04/05/2022 3:29:01 PM PDT by Ennis85
A Republican-proposed bill in Tennessee would remove the age limit for when couple's could exchange wedding vows and clear the way for 'common-law marriages' between 'one man and one woman.'
Representative Tom Leatherwood, 65, of Arlington, introduced the bill into the state's House that would eliminate the current age requirement of 17 and allow for 'alternative forms of marriage' to those who 'conscientiously object to the current pathway to marriage.'
'So, all this bill does is give an alternative form of marriage for those pastors and other individuals who have a conscientious objection to the current pathway to marriage in our law,' the Republican father-of-five said, according to WJHL. 'There is not an explicit age limit.'
Opponents are worried if the bill passes into law, it could be used to cover up child sex abuse and statutory rape.
Democratic Nashville Representative Mike Stewart, 57, called the bill a 'get-out-of-jail-free card for people who are basically committing statutory rape.'
'I mean it’s completely ridiculous, so that’s another reason why this terrible bill should be eliminated,' he said. 'I don’t think any normal person thinks we shouldn’t have an age requirement for marriage.'
Tennessee is currently the 13th largest state per capita for child marriages, trailing Texas, Alabama, Utah, Oklahoma, and Nevada, which is tops since 2018. Texas has married roughly 42,000 children, the biggest number of children per state, while California has married off roughly 24,000 and Tennessee almost 10,000.
Under the current Tennessee law, a person can get married as young as 17 as long as they have parental consent. It only became illegal for minors under the age of 17 to get married in 2018. Prior to that, Tennesseans could bypass the age requirement as long as a judge waived the age limit through parental consent.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
It didn't make them "legal", 5 robes took it upon themselves to redefine something we've all known it to be, the union between man and woman.
"Leatherwood's bill comes after Florida passed the Parental Rights Act - which has been dubbed the 'Don't Say Gay' bill - which Republicans are using to ban the discussion of sex and gender in the classroom. Republicans have increasingly claimed that liberals advocating to strike down the bill are 'grooming' and 'sexualizing' children by indoctrinating them. "
False comparison much?
I understand that 17 law tragically kept him and his sister apart for near a decade
Republicans never miss an opportunity to screw up their position. Was the marriage law that bad that it needed “fixing?”
Prepare for the Afghan influx.
Not sure what he’s getting at here.
There’s so much sloppy journalism these days and editors don’t seem to read the headlines at all. The writer who used an apostrophe to pluralize “couples”should be summarily shot, and his editor flogged within an inch of his life. Among we grammar nazis there’s no greater offense.
Today's kids clearly are not the same as kids from even the 1980s. We have become a nation of adolescents.
I’m surprised the Democrats oppose this, as it is the natural consequence of their encouragement of pedophilia.
“Among we grammar nazis”
Hmmmmm. among we preposition....
He’s a pedi
Us grammar Nazis, not we. The pronoun should be objective case because it’s the object of the preposition, among.
Guys a kook. Won’t go anywhere. Local talk radio slamming him.
Methinks thou didst take the bait.
“Not sure what he’s getting at here.”
Allowing kids to get married and start a family in their high school years means the perverts in the colleges won’t get their hands on them.
I see too many nice kids graduate from high school and return from college as Marxist train wrecks. They’re better off learning a trade and starting a family.
Insolence such as yours up with which I shall not put!
(-:
“Republicans never miss an opportunity to screw up their position.”
Very hard to understand how breathing persons can be so disconnected.
There are Republicans who are not all shot up yet, but as a whole, they are compromising with, or enabling the total destruction which the left seeks.
As a diehard conservative patriot, I had to go independent right after Trent Lott, Bob Dole, etc... bottled up/covered up “China Gate”, and threatened, then acted to destroy Gingrich for seeking to pursue “China Gate”.
Of course Newt then decided it was time to destroy himself with another woman.
In this day and age, when the left are in a near hot war over their desire to pervert our children — then this!
This is literally insane.
They don't teach grammar in journalism school. They teach social justice activism.
Are there a lot of muslim refugees there? I saw that Utah has passed a bill that oks polygamy.
Forced marriage?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.