the bible seems to say one should not marry unless they can't control their urges http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1 Corinthians 7:8-9&version=NIV " 8 Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am. 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. " there was a few Christian groups that practiced absence, but of course as they did not reproduce, they died out .
Same-gender marriages go back centuries in many cultures. So............... As for horse/ghost/child/etc. The argument is simple. If you can't consent then you can't enter into the covenant. It really is simple.
Historically marriages have often been without the consent of one, or sometimes both parties. In fact that happens every day in places like Afghanistan. 9 year old girls are often forced to marry men in their 40's or fifties. So where do you get the absolute authority to say that marriage requires consent? Particularly when you're talking about non human entities. The status of domestic animals is basically slave like. Their consent isn't required to ride them or eat them. And in some places like China, there is such a thing as Ghost Marriages. In that case, no consent is required of the dead. You seem to be just making up a requirement on your own. As far as same gender marriages having a historical basis, usually when someone says that they are referring to one offs like the Roman Emperor who forced a senator to marry a boy and forced another to marry a horse (without the horse's consent may I add). Or there was some Monk who went off the rails at some point and married dudes. But there doesn't seem to be any society where that was accepted. Of course, my studies of history isn't all inclusive so you may enlighten me.
