I, for one, am relieved. Children getting married wigs me out. People getting married in general wigs me out. I get wigged out easily.

Our funky news story of the day finds that toddlers can no longer marry in Arkansas. Who knew they could marry in the first place. Now see my sense of the wiggums and an impending sense of doom and why I’m in need of therapy. The state’s Governor Mike Beebe signed a law into effect yesterday repealing a blunder that has been called an embarrassment to the state. Why is it embarrassing? Because they just signed the law into effect last year which said children of any age, with parental permission, could be married.

A typo eliminated the minimum age for marriage. The bill states “In order for a person who is younger than eighteen (18) years of age and who is not pregnant to obtain a marriage license, the person must provide the county clerk with evidence of parental consent to the marriage.” It was supposed to be just 18. The state’s elected officials didn’t realize the mistake until after the law was in place.

Actually, there was a very real reason for the concern. State leaders realized this could be a major issue with pedophiles although fortunately this didn’t come into play. Lawmakers rushed to get the law overturned. However, it still took several months.

Popular Fidelity is proud to report that no three-year-olds were married under the brief law.

Tags: Arkansas, Stupid Laws, Mike Beebe, Marriage

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