Things to Remember When Marrying in Louisiana

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Yesterday’s story about the Louisiana judge denying a marriage license to an interracial couple prompted me to look into the state’s actual marriage laws.

Apparently, in Louisiana you can:

  • Marry at age 16, with a parent’s consent.
  • Obtain a marriage license by proxy, as long as one of the parties is present and has the certified birth certificate of the absent party.
  • Marry your first-cousin once-removed, or your adopted first-cousin.

But it seems as though it would be frowned upon to marry your absent 16-year-old cousin-once-removed if he/she is of a different race.

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate