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With all eyes being on the UK as of late, you may not have heard of this story.

Yep, the former chairman of the Uk’s Conservative Party, Richard Holden, argued last month that the practice of first-cousin marriage should be banned in the UK, due in part to what he cites as an increased risk of birth defects.

Not surprisingly, some Brits with … less English sounding names … took offense to that.

Independent MP Iqbal Mohamed opposes the ban, citing how common it is in Eastern cultures.

The reason the practice is so common is that ordinary people see family intermarriage as something that is very positive overall; as something that helps to build family bonds and puts families on a more secure financial foothold.

Who needs to worry about genetic deformities and general creepiness? It’s tradition!

Here Mohamed is, arguing his point on the floor of the British Parliament (try to explain this to any Englishman who lived more than 50 years ago).

Dr. Qurratul-Ain Rehman, a woman who serves as president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Women’s Association UK, also disagrees. She wrote in to The Guardian with this hot take:

Medical evidence shows that while the risk of birth defects is relatively higher among children born to consanguineous parents, the absolute risk remains low. In fact, the absolute risk increase is comparable to factors such as older maternal age, obesity and smoking – but there are no calls to ban them.

Uh, yeah. Because older maternal age, obesity, and smoking are … well, normal. And not weird.

Several X users have served as voices of reason:

The UK has a lot of problems on its hands. Here’s hoping inbreeding can be crossed off the list.

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