MP outlines opposition to calls to ban first-cousin marriage in the UK

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/mp-outlines-opposition-calls-ban-142735749.html

Posted by SoggyWotsits

15 comments

  2. Just thought I’d say that not all first cousin marriges are within Asian cultures. My aunt and uncle are first cousins and very white. Although our family still thinks it is odd, even 20 years later.

    Edit: they do not have children together.

  3. It’s crazy how this was a problem that was more or less resolved naturally and now needs to be resolved again through legislation.

  4. >He told MPs: “However, the way to redress this is not to empower the state to ban adults from marrying each other, not least because I don’t think it would be effective or enforceable.

    The state already bans various adults from marrying each other, which is both effective and enforceable, though.

  5. Doesn’t believe it’s enforceable?

    It’s almost like some people think the laws of this country don’t apply to them.

  6. A ban on first cousin marriages is obviously right and necessary. But we should not shy away from talking about why it wasn’t necessary for a millennium, but now is.

  7. Remind us why first-cousin marriages are wrong? Oh yes, several generations of them produce birth defects.

    So same-sex first-cousin marriages are fine.

  8. OK. We’ve got the gut-reaction ‘urgh’ out of the way from those of us thinking of our own cousins that we grew up with.

    So before we ban stuff, let’s ask why?

    Is it just the ‘urgh’ factor, because you wouldn’t want to marry your cousin? Why do you have the right to impose that on other consenting adults?

    Is it the increased risk of congenital defects? Good reason, but can’t genetic counselling deal with that? If you think not, do you want to ban people with a high risk of passing on a genetic complaint from marrying?

    Since more children are born out of wedlock than to legally married people these days, do we amend the incest laws to include first cousins?

    The proposed legislation seems at first to come from a reasonable place, but the reality of what it is trying to achieve doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

    EDIT: Removed minor typo

  11. And whilst we at it, let’s ban male genital mutilation which is more abhorrent to most.

  13. It feels a bit odd seeing comments deleted because they mention culture and religion. I feel like those can be talked about respectfully and deleting these comments is not helpful.

  15. MP of a certain religion enters parliament. ‘I propose fucking family a right!’

Comments are closed.