Yahoo! News - First Cousins Get Married in Maryland
Yahoo! News - First Cousins Get Married in Maryland: "ALTOONA, Pa. - First cousins who were denied a marriage license by a Pennsylvania judge earlier this month were wed in a civil ceremony in Maryland, the couple said Monday.



Tonight Show host Jay Leno and conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh both commented about the story after Blair County Judge Jolene Kopriva refused to marry Eleanor Amrhein, 46, and Donald W. Andrews Sr., 39, of Logan Township.

The couple petitioned the judge March 14, three days after a court clerk refused to marry them after learning they were first cousins. The couple's mothers are sisters. But they hoped the judge would grant an exception to the Pennsylvania law, which was meant to prevent birth defects and other problems caused by marriage of close relatives, by telling the judge they didn't plan to have children.

'Everybody thought I should be ashamed of it,' Amrhein said. 'I am not.'"
- posted by Gp @ 8:18 AM