Charles Manson and his 26-year-old lover have a marriage certificate to be wed later this month. Manson gained notoriety for leading a cult, known as the Manson Family, to carry out several murders in the late 60s. Now he and Afton Burton, who goes by Star, and can legally marry each other in California.
It not only astounds me that the state would let Manson get married but that the couple are allowed to have guests from outside the prison visit. On top of all of that, Burton has been visiting Manson since she was 17. 17 years old. Not even the age of consent and this girl was visiting someone I would consider “crazy,” for lack of a better word. I’m just glad these two love birds waited until she was well past 18 before they decided to tie the knot.
If someone wants to marry Charles Manson, it’s not my place to tell them they can’t. Really it’s not my place to tell anyone they can’t marry the person they love. I don’t know why “Star” would want to marry Manson, but maybe she sees something in him I (and hopefully the rest of us) don’t.
My main qualm with this unholy matrimony is that some people have no problem with it because at the very least it’s between a man and a woman. Heaven forbid two men or two women who love each other get married, but if a mentally unstable murderer and his probably equally unstable fiancee want to get hitched then that’s fine. I don’t see how this doesn’t affect the sanctity of marriage. This is an individual who led others to kill people, and while he may have his protestors, the state still gave him clemency to get married.
Granted, California does at least permit homosexual couples to be married, but in a country that doesn’t have equal rights for everyone in every state, that seems more like a drop in the bucket. I think even if you casually attend church or if you’ve been preaching the good word since you could talk, the Manson marriage does more to disparage the sanctity of marriage than any homosexual one.
