California has officially banned child marriage, with Governor Gavin Newsom signing legislation to end the practice that is still legal in 32 US states.
The new law, which will come into effect on 1 January, states people must be 18 to get married in the Golden State.
Newsom called it a “long overdue measure to protect young Californians and minors”. He signed the bill into law with Courtney Stodden, whose parents allowed her to marry a 50-year-old Hollywood actor when she was just 16.
Weird how the USA has so much in common with countries like Saudi Arabia, yemen, Somalia
So, apparently, does France. France has the same exceptions to allow 16 year olds to marry adults. And Spain. And Italy. And virtually the entirety of Eastern Europe. Belgium has no minimum age as long as a judge allows it.
If you look at the map of where minors can get married to adults without parental consent, Scotland is more lenient than anywhere in the US. Scotland is actually one of a tiny tiny few countries that allow minors to marry adults without any exceptions required. Adults can just outright marry children in Scotland without issue. Only 7 countries in the world allow that. Most in Africa and the Middle East. And then Scotland.
Map of places where a judge can OK a marriage. I’m not saying the USA is good, but Europe has plenty of spots wheee you can technically marry as a 16 year old (or less). Worldwide problem.
Yeah, marriage at 16 with parental consent is pretty commonly allowed throughout the world.
I’ll never say no to a map
What’s going on with China? Some kind of longitude dependant system?
The minimum age differs by gender. Minimum age for men is 22, minimum age for women is 20.
I was joking, but that sounds stupid.
Y’all Qaeda lives
Its not popular - hence why it’s changing. Nuance is lost on the internet, but people really need to start chilling out about making blanket assumptions of huge swaths of people.
Its one of the “automatic assumptions” people have - that it IS illegal. So they wouldn’t bother looking it up.
Most Americans don’t have the slightest idea of what is/isn’t legal. Gotta remember, before the internet, you had to get a physical copy of your state’s statutes. These change frequently, and are quite large.
Legalinfo first started in 1994, and it took a much longer time before states have their own websites.
Yes, there are literalist religious people everywhere.