GOP Lawmaker Clarifies Remarks About Letting 12-Year-Olds Marry

A Missouri state senator who went viral because he apparently thinks it’s OK for 12-year-olds to get married is clarifying his remarks.

On Tuesday, Republican lawmaker Mike Moon suggested he supported the rights of 12-year-olds to tie the knot during a debate about a bill he introduced that would ban gender-affirming care for the state’s transgender teens.

Moon’s controversial remarks came after state Rep. Peter Merideth (D) challenged him about why he voted against a bill in 2018 that would prevent adults from marrying kids.

“Do you know any kids who have been married at age 12? I do. And guess what? They’re still married,” Moon responded, according to the Springfield News-Leader.

On Thursday, Moon clarified that his support of child marriage doesn’t extend to adults marrying children.

“I do not support adults marrying children,” Moon told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Thursday. “That’s preposterous to even think that I do.”

He added: “I do not support child rape.”

Moon then offered more details about the couple he said he knows who got married as tweens. He said he has known them for nearly 40 years. 

“The young man was 12; the girl was 11,” he said. “Their parents allowed them to marry. There was no forcing in the situation. But the parents wisely took the boy to their home, and the girls’ parents took her to their home.

“Eventually a child was born to the girl, and then years later, when they were able to support themselves and they were more mature, they were able to begin living together, and still living together today.”

According to Moon, the 2018 legislation he voted against would’ve made that type of marriage illegal.

At the time, he argued that “instead of running down to the abortion clinic, they allowed these 12-year-olds to marry. If we don’t allow the parents to have some say, we’re actually as a state removing a fundamental right from the mom and dad.

“It’s a parents’ decision to make; it’s their right to make that choice,” Moon said.

Missouri’s current age of marriage is 16, the paper noted. Minors need to have a parent or guardian sign off on the marriage, and adults over 21 can’t marry anyone under 18.