A Yemeni Couple Are Watching TV
A Yemeni Muslim couple turn on the TV after a particularly heavy session of lovemaking. They're sitting on pillows on the carpet when Al Jazeera broadcasts a news report about a gay pride parade in San Francisco.
Ahmed shakes his head in disgust. "Look at these homosexuals in America, have they no shame? Did not Allah ordain that love and sex should be between a man and a woman? These decadent Americans are ruining the sanctity of marriage.
"We should go to San Francisco just to show these infidels that marriage means one man, one woman. Right, Fatima?"
The woman replies, "That's right, Daddy."
Although this post is filed under the category of Muslim Jokes, marriage of pre-pubescent girls in Yemen is no joke.
Yemeni law allows girls of any age to wed, but it forbids sex with them until they’re 'suitable for sexual intercourse':
Yemen Times, 25 Feb 2010, Yemen’s children say no to early marriage
On Monday, about 1,000 children gathered in front of the parliament to demand the minimum age for marriage in Yemen be 18 years old. Roughly half were girls.
“Early marriage + early pregnancy= early death,” said one banner held up by participants. Last year, a 12-year-old married girl from Hajja died in labor before she could reach the hospital.
