Is it Georgia? Is it Alabama? No! It's Pennsylvania's first cousins that are taking a stand against fundamentalists who respect marriage yet deplore its implications. Take this, gays! Take that, Micheal Shiavo! First cousins are the wave of the future!

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Bennett led a 2002 study on risks of genetic problems in children born in such marriages. The study found that children born to couples who are first or second cousins have a lower risk for birth defects than commonly perceived.

On average, an unrelated couple has an approximately 3 percent to 4 percent risk of having a child with a birth defect, significant mental retardation or serious genetic disease.

Close cousins face an additional risk of 1.7 percent to 2.8 percent, according to the study, funded by the National Society of Genetic Counselors, and the U.S. Health and Human Services Department.

Christie Smith, 40, founded Cousins United to Defeat Discriminating Laws through Education, in 2002 to overturn laws banning such marriages. So far, the group hasn't found much success.

"People don't like what they don't understand," said Smith, who fell in love with her husband after seeing him at a family reunion.

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See article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/05/cousins.marriage.ap/index.html