Zambia Keeps Prosecuting Consenting Adults For Marrying

Another news item out of Zambia details the prosecuting of consenting adults in an attempt to break up a marriage. If you think this only happens in Africa, you are sorely mistaken. Where I live, in the US, many states still prosecute in these cases, and it happens in many other countries as well. Chambo Ng'uni reports at dail-mail.co.zm...A 27-YEAR-OLD man of Kabwe and his young sister aged 20 have appeared in the Kabwe Magistrate’s Court to answer to charges of incest. Aaron Musonda an electrician and Maureen Musonda a grade 12 pupil in Kabwe both appeared before Kabwe resident magistrate John Mbuzi on Thursday for explanation of the charge of incest.The accused persons are both residents of Makululu Township and they share the same...

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Posted in: Africa,breaking up homes,brother-sister,consanguineous,courts,family reaction,GSA,incest,lack of equality harms,prosecution,siblings

A Cruel Double Standard

I might need to add #20 to the series NOT a Good Reason to Deny (Consanguineous) Love and #22 to the Discredited Arguments page, because I've heard and read people say that people in consanguinamorous relationships (or step or adoptive relationships that have gone romantic) don't need the freedom to marry because they're already family. In addition to being as senseless as telling a woman she can't marry her sister's husband's brother (which is legal and does happen) because they are already family, the statement can bring up a very cruel double standard.In many situations involving Genetic Sexual Attraction, the lovers are not legally family for the purposes of insurance, benefits, taxes, hospital visitation, next of kin, etc. because they...

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Posted in: consanguineous,freedom to marry,GSA,incest,lack of equality harms,law,marriage equality,myths,prejudice

Have a Look Around

Are you new to this blog? Maybe you've been here before, but have missed some of the features here.Over there in the column on the right you can find ways to connect and to follow this blog. There at the top of the page are tabs that take you to "permanent" pages:There's a Welcome message and there's an About This Blog page, and you can read about the triad that originally inspired this blog.There's a Glossary so that you can become familiar with terms frequently used here. I explain why we need solidarity in supporting full marriage equality and I debunk all the arguments that you'll ever hear made against equality.On the Case Studies page I feature interviews with people who have been denied their rights, so you can "meet" people who are, or have been, in consensual loving relationships...

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Why the South Needs Full Marriage Equality

This is why the South and the rest of the US needs full marriage equality sooner rather than later. It is an interview at The Final Manifesto with a woman who is denied the right to marry the other parent of her child. You can read interviews I have done he...

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Posted in: brother-sister,coming out,consanguineous,family reaction,lack of equality harms,love,pregnancy,siblings,US

Frequently Asked Question: Can Siblings Marry?

The following is based on my understanding. I’m not at attorney and this should not be considered legal advice.Can siblings marry? I’m not aware of any government that will currently marry full-blood siblings or recognize a marriage of full-blood siblings; rather, if it was discovered by the authorities after an official marriage was formed that the spouses were, in fact, siblings, the marriage would be dissolved and considered invalid. If the spouses knew they were siblings when they married, they would be subject to prosecution. If they discovered the genetic relationship after getting married, they would have to file for an annulment or dissolution or risk prosecution.Where sibling consanguinamory isn’t still banned by law, siblings can...

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Posted in: brother-brother,brother-sister,consanguineous,FAQ,freedom to marry,incest,siblings,sister-sister

Possible GSA Case Makes News

Not everyone who is arrested or prosecuted for consensual sex is a sympathetic person overall. Sometimes, they've done other things that should continue to be crimes. Regardless of whether someone is a career criminal or a true pillar of the community, consensual relationships and sex between adults should not be a crime, and should not be fodder for ridicule in what are supposed to be serious news services. Stories like the one below are not justification to deny full marriage equality. For every situation like the one detailed below, there are many great people who are in consanguinamorous relationships and you never heard about them. Or, they are famous and admired, but their consanguinamory remains closeted.Here is Lee Moran's article at...

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Posted in: brother-sister,consanguineous,GSA,incest,law,media,prosecution,reunion,siblings,Texas

Newspaper Editorial Calls For Hate

A newspaper in Zambia is calling for more hate in response to recent shocking discoveries that people are loving each other even though they are siblings. Here is the editorial at daily-mail.co.zm... THE continued reports of incestuous marriages in Central Province are worrying and raise many social and psychological questions.What is there to worry about?We urge relevant Government organs and non-governmental organisations to carry out a research to establish if this could be widespread and unravel the factors that could be driving people in this particular province into such marriages.Yes, it is common. What is driving them to it is usually the same thing that drives any lovers. This kind of behaviour should not be allowed...

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Posted in: Africa,breaking up homes,brother-sister,children,consanguineous,family reaction,incest,lack of equality harms,law,media,persecution,prejudice,siblings,stigma

The Invisible Asterisk

Sometimes, when someone writes (or says) that they support the freedom to marry or, marriage equality, or #Marriage4All, or “love is love” or something like “The sex lives of consenting adults is nobody else’s business.,” there is an invisible asterisk. You know, one of these ==> *What might really be going on is this…“Consenting adults should be free to marry each other.”**Unless you mean something I don’t like or think is disgusting, like polygamy, open marriage, or consensual adult incest.I don’t do that. There is no asterisk in this statement…I support the rights of an adult to share love, sex, residence, and marriage with any and all consenting adults, without prosecution, bullying, or discrimination.There is no asterisk after “adult.” An “adult” includes any person, regardless of...

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Posted in: allies,freedom to marry,marriage equality,politicians,prejudice,solidarity,terminology

An Example of the Benefit of Nonmonogamy in Nature

I am polyamorous, but not one of those polyamorists who say everyone else should be polyamorous, too. When I say I support the rights of consenting adults, that includes the freedom to be monogamous or celibate. And, as I always say, just because something is found in another species, it doesn't automatically apply to humans. With those things out of the way, I wanted to note Carl Zimmer's report at nytimes.com that flies forced into monogamy apparently lose learning ability.Forcing male flies into monogamy has a startling effect: After a few dozen generations, the flies become worse at learning.This discovery, published on Wednesday in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, isn’t a biological excuse for men who have strayed from their significant...

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Posted in: academia,human origins,lack of equality harms,monogamy,open,polyamory,polygamy,science

Ten Myths About Sibling Consanguinamory

I’ve noticed some common myths expressed about sibling consanguinamory. In this instance, by consanguinamory, I mean everything from curious exploration and experimenting to erotic romance, including masturbating in front of each other, erotic kissing, sexual touching or rubbing, oral sex, intercourse, etc.This entry is NOT addressing molestation, assault, or abuse.I’m referring to adult siblings, or minor siblings who are close in age, engaging in mutual affection or experimentation, without coercion, force, or intimidation. It may be two siblings alone, it may be three or more siblings, or it may be two or more siblings involved together with one or more people outside of the immediate family.These myths need to be addressed, because they...

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Posted in: brother-brother,brother-sister,consanguineous,FAQ,GSA,incest,love,myths,prejudice,siblings,sister-sister,stigma

New Republic Insults Hundreds of Millions

Alice Robb wrote at "The Strange Scholarship of Incest" at newrepublic.com...Whether or not Meryl Streep deserves to win Best Actress for her turn as the deranged matriarch in August: Osage County is up for debate, but everyone who’s seen Tracy Letts’s play or the film adaptation should be able to agree on at least one thing: It makes for some uncomfortable viewing. And of all the disturbing elements that make up this saga—alcoholism, suicide, adultery—there’s one plotline that stands out as truly disturbing: the incestuous romance between Ivy and Little Charles, who believe they’re first cousins but—spoiler alert—turn out to be half-siblings.Why is that disturbing?Disgust seems like a pretty appropriate response to an affair between...

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Posted in: academia,brother-sister,children,consanguineous,cousins,family reaction,media,prejudice,science,siblings,stigma