Congrats to Elisabeth Lorentz and Eric Holder

Although the "reason" usually brought up to keep ridiculous laws against consanguinamory is Discredited Argument #18, some places lump in steprelations, who are not closely related, into laws against consensual "incest." A Friend of FME and Friend of Lily forwarded me this article from dailymail.co.uk by Damien Gayle, about steprelations who had to fight for their right to marry.

A woman yesterday tied the knot with her stepson - after fighting for months with French authorities for the right to marry.

Why did there need to be a fight in the first place? Let consenting adults marry each other.

Elisabeth Lorentz, 48, finally married Eric Holder, who is three years her junior, in the parish church in the small village of Dabo in Alsace-Lorraine, north-east France.

Good for them! They first met when he was 21 and she was 24.

Ms Lorentz married Mr Holder's father in 2003, but they separated three years later. Ms Lorentz told French media her former husband instigated the break up.

That shouldn't mean she and Eric had to stop associating.

With Mr Holder and Ms Lorentz's friendship soon developing into a love affair, it wasn't long before he proposed.

But quickly they ran into trouble with French law, which prohibits all unions between stepchildren and step-parents - even former ones.

Ridiculous.

They finally obtained the right to marry from a local court in north-east France in June. The prosecutor's office opposed the decision but did not appeal.

Good for that court!

The ex-husband of the bride, who is also the father of the groom, was to be among the 100 or so guests at the civil and religious ceremonies in Dabo.

'He has always supported us,' Ms Lorentz said.

Well good for him, too.

Let consenting adults marry.

Support your family members in their relationships, unless those relationships are with toxic people.

Wouldn't life be so much better???

Maybe you're someone who can't stand your (former) stepparent, stepsibling, or stepchild, and you couldn't even think about wanting to marry them. But not everybody has the same stepfamily, and not everybody feels the same. You should be free to have the relationships you want, and so should people like this couple.