Moral Outrage - Texas - Age of Consent Laws

Texas - Age of Consent Laws

I am linking this because the reporting on the FLDS incident in West Texas has been riddled with inaccuracy.

• First of all, for purposes of sexual consent, a seventeen year old is not a minor under Texas law. The applicable law reads: "A person commits an offense if, with a child >younger than 17 years and not the person's spouse ..."
  
• Second, once again relating specifically to sexual consent, a sixteen year old is not a minor if married to his/her sexual partner. A Texan may marry without a court order at age 16 if he/she has his/her parents' permission. In a closed community like FLDS, parental permission is obviously not a problem, so a man having sex with his sixteen year old wife would be legal. HOWEVER ... the marriage must have jumped through all the legal hoops.
  
  • In order for a 16 year old to marry, it must be a legally valid ceremony under Texas law. Marriage certificates may be issued to 16 year olds, but the rules read: "Parents must be present and give written consent. Each under-age applicant will be required to provide a certified copy of their birth certificate. The consenting parent must provide some form of government identification such as a valid drivers license. If the natural parents are divorced, the parent given custody must be present and give written consent and present a certified copy of their custody papers."
    
  
  
• If one or both parties are under the age of 16, the law requires that the couple must receive special judical permission before being allowed to marry, even if all the appropriate parental consents are in order. I assume that none of the FLDS members have petitioned for this type of permission, but I do not know that for a fact.