"To the Editor, Portland Oregonian:
"The definition of marriage changes with each generation.
"In 1857, when Oregon adopted its Constitution, a married woman could not own property, could not enter into a contract without her husband's permission, and could lawfully be beaten by her husband. Divorce was illegal in most states, and was only granted on grounds of adultery in others. A hot topic of debate at the time was whether a widow could lawfully marry her late husband's brother -- quite a change from Biblical times, when such a marriage was required.
"In 1857, not all marriages in Oregon were between one man and one woman. There were already quite a few Mormon settlers in the southeastern counties."
1 comment:
Yeah, the whole one man one woman joined in love thing always cracks me up since marriage wasn't about love until very recently and a few centuries back the Church was marrying gay couples.
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