MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Judiciary

By: Senator(s) Kirby, Thames, Gunn, Gollott, Little, Scoper, Minor, Robertson, Johnson (19th), Hawks, Browning, Dickerson, Cuevas, Woodfield, Moffatt, Furniss, Hewes, Farris, Jordan (24th), Harvey, Lee, Nunnelee, Stogner, Carter

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 93-1-1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROHIBIT HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGES AND TO PROVIDE THAT HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGES RECOGNIZED IN ANOTHER STATE SHALL NOT BE RECOGNIZED IN THIS STATE AND SHALL BE DECLARED VOID IN THIS STATE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 93-1-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

93-1-1. (1) The son shall not marry his grandmother, his mother, or his stepmother; the brother his sister; the father his daughter, or his legally adopted daughter, or his grand-daughter; the son shall not marry the daughter of his father begotten of his stepmother, or his aunt, being his father's or mother's sister, nor shall the children of brother or sister, or brothers and sisters intermarry being first cousins by blood. The father shall not marry his son's widow; a man shall not marry his wife's daughter, or his wife's daughter's daughter, or his wife's son's daughter, or the daughter of his brother or sister; and the like prohibition shall extend to females in the same degrees. All marriages prohibited by this subsection are incestuous and void.

(2) Any marriage between persons of the same gender is prohibited and null and void from the beginning. Any marriage between persons of the same gender that is valid in another jurisdiction does not constitute a legal or valid marriage in Mississippi.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.