Okay, so I got curious about this whole “cousin marriage” thing. It’s kind of a weird topic, I know, but I wanted to see where it’s actually legal. So I started digging!
My Little Research Project
First, I fired up my trusty search engine. I just typed in something simple like “states where cousins can marry.” I figured that would give me a good starting point.
The results were kind of a mess, to be honest. Some websites were all formal and legal-sounding, others were just… random forums. I spent a good chunk of time just sifting through the junk.
I decided I needed a better way to organize things. So, I grabbed a pen and paper (yeah, I’m old school like that) and started making a list. I jotted down each state and whether the info seemed to say “yes,” “no,” or “maybe” to cousin marriage.
Then things got a bit trickier. Some states had these weird rules, like, “Okay, but only if you’re too old to have kids” or “Only if you get genetic counseling.” Seriously! I had to read some of those explanations a few times to even understand what they were * example, Utah declared it illegal unless both cousins were over 65 years * one or both are under 55, but proven infertile they can marry if they seek Genetic Counseling from a court.
I kept going, though. Checked, double-checked, and sometimes triple-checked the info.I find the following:
- 19 states permit some type of cousin marriage, with some restrictions.
- 25 states completely prohibit marriage between first cousins.
- 6 states allow first-cousin marriage under certain circumstances.
It took a while, but I finally put together something that made sense. It’s not like a super official legal document or anything, but it’s a pretty good overview of the states that is easy to learn.
