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Nade_Duck posted...

this is the world republicans want

https://www.newsweek.com/wyoming-ending-child-marriage- sparks-republican-outrage-1780501

Wyoming Limiting Child Marriage Sparks Republican Outrage

The Wyoming Republican Party is seeking to kill a bill working its way through the state Legislature proposing to raise the state's legal marriage age to 16, arguing that putting "arbitrary" limits on child marriage interferes with parental rights and religious liberty.

The billwhich already passed the Republican-controlled Wyoming House of Representatives on a 36-25 vote late last monthproposes banning state residents from marrying anyone under the age of 16, while requiring anyone under the age of 18 seeking to get married to receive written consent from their parents under the eye of a competent witness.

The debate has been a longstanding one in Wyoming.

Currently, Wyoming is one of just eight states in the countryincluding California, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Washington and West Virginiawithout a minimum age requirement for marriage, and it currently ranks among the top ten states in the country for child marriages, according to a 2021 study by advocacy group Unchained at Last.

Efforts to raise the age of marriage in the state have consistently stalled. For years, now-retired Laramie Democratic Representative Charles Pelkey sponsored legislation to raise the age of marriage to 18, only to fail with every effort.

It's also a common practice across the country, even now: While the number of child marriages nationally has been in steady free fall over the last few decades, just seven states to date have voted to ban it entirely, even as countries like the Philippines passed national laws banning the practice.

Other states, like Tennessee, have actually sought to go in the opposite direction, with Republicans there seeking last year to eliminate any limits on marriage entirely until public outrage forced them to reverse course.

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https://www.newsweek.com/tennessee-bill-proposes- eliminating-marriage-age-requirements-1695209

Tennessee GOP Proposes Bill Eliminating Age Requirements for Marriage

Tennessee Republicans are moving forward with a bill that would eliminate age requirements for marriage in the state.

The bill, HB 233, is scheduled to be heard in the House Civil Justice Committee on Wednesday and would establish common-law marriage between "one man" and "one woman," but it does not include a minimum age requirement. Opponents of the bill said it could open up the possibility of child marriages. The current age for marriage in the state is 17 with parental consent, according to WKRN.

"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 bill's sponsor, Republican Representative Tom Leatherwood, was quoted by WKRN.

There is no federal legislation in the United States regarding the minimum age for marriage, and states are allowed to set their own parameters. Currently, child marriage is legal in 44 states and nearly 300,000 children were married between 2000 and 2018 across the country, according to United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Democratic Representative Mike Stewart, who is on the subcommittee that passed the bill, said since there is no explicit age limit on the legislation, it could open up the possibility of covering up child abuse, WKRN reported.

"It should not be there as it's basically a get out of jail free card for people who are basically committing statutory rapeI mean it's completely ridiculous, so that's another reason why this terrible bill should be eliminated," Steward said.