Where You Can Marry Your 1st Cousin

Mac McClelland, a human-rights reporter over at Mother Jones, has committed an act of public service and mapped the legality of first-cousin marriage across the U.S. of A. So where can you marry your mother's sister's son or your father's brother's daughter? “[T]urns out the answer, despite all that stigma and a slightly increased risk of birth defects in offspring, is, most states,” though there are exceptions and caveats to account for age and reproductive ability. Nine states—Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming—will legally recognize a cousin-on-cousin union, but won't recognize out-of-state homosexual unions.