This summer, while she waits to start her senior year of high school, 16-year-old Mary Lee will be taken to Florida so that she and her husband Andy, 38, can have their honeymoon. The Lees aren’t married yet, not legally, but they will be once the Tennessee state legislature passes a new law onto the books that would, effectively, remove age of consent considerations between two people getting married.
The two have been dating since Andy met Mary when she took his ticket at the local movie theater. Mary says sparks flew almost immediately, and she knew she wanted to marry Andy. But first, she wanted to make sure she aced her driving test and got a decent grade on her English final. With those milestones out of the way, Mary has been free to plan her wedding to Andy, while also preparing for her final year of public school, though she intends to immediately begin having babies once she’s legally wed to Andy, so her schooling plans are far from set in concrete.
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As much excitement as Andy and Mary are feeling about their impending nuptials and subsequent Floridian honeymoon, they are keenly aware of one fact — they won’t be able to talk about their honeymoon while on their honeymoon.
When Florida’s governor signed the controversial “Don’t Say Gay” law into the books, his supporters and proponents of the law argued it was necessary to protect underage minors from sexually inappropriate discussions. Andy and Mary aren’t too sure where they stand on the law — both consider themselves to be fans of freedom of speech and liberty, and don’t usually find a problem, generally, with LGTBQIA+ people existing as so many others seem to. However, they also pride themselves on being law abiding, and are unsure if, given Mary’s age at the time they’ll be in Florida this summer, Andy would be subject to arrest for talking about what they were doing while they were there.
Mary told The Bible Belt Babbler, a local newspaper in her town, that she is excited about getting married, and her honeymoon, and she expects that she and Andy will “get down to what married couple get down with.” However, she and Andy are unsure how much they’ll even be allowed to discuss about what they’re doing, even while they’re doing it.
“What if Mary wants me to talk dirty to her, and tell her all the things I’m gonna do? That’s pretty normal couple stuff right? Well, apparently in Florida, my underage bride and I will need to be extra cautious about doing things normal couple do,” Andy told the interviewer.
The Lees acknowledge this is a complicated issue. If they had been able to wait another couple of years to get married, then perhaps they wouldn’t even be worried about what kind of effect Don’t Say Gay will have on their honeymoon. Andy said that just was not an option in their minds.
“Here in Tennessee you gotta strike while the iron’s hot when you find someone born two decades after you that has so much in common with you,” Andy said. “Who knows if I’d find someone I was nearly as attracted to. I’ve just about dated all my first and second cousins, and technically Mary’s my third cousin we found out, so in my mind that’s just one more reason God meant for us to be husband and child-wife.”
