--- title: Sharon Tate's Sister: Murderers Like Manson Should Have No Marriage Rights description: Charles Manson took away my sister's right to happiness, and to life itself—he shouldn't be allowed his own canonical: https://time.com/3602460/sharon-tate-sister-charles-manson-wife/ author: Debra Tate article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-24T18:12:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:19:40.194Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Exclusive: Sharon Tate's Sister Says Murderers Like Manson Should Have No Marriage Rights og:description: Charles Manson took away my sister's right to happiness, and to life itself—he shouldn't be allowed his own og:url: https://time.com/3602460/sharon-tate-sister-charles-manson-wife/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7db113e5f2be065d/69876a8f524fc0716ddeaf02/sharon-tate.jpg?branch=production&width=640&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Sharon Tate: Recollection og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Exclusive: Sharon Tate's Sister Says Murderers Like Manson Should Have No Marriage Rights twitter:description: Charles Manson took away my sister's right to happiness, and to life itself—he shouldn't be allowed his own twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7db113e5f2be065d/69876a8f524fc0716ddeaf02/sharon-tate.jpg?branch=production&width=640&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Exclusive: Sharon Tate's Sister Says Murderers Like Manson Should Have No Marriage Rights by [Debra Tate](https://time.com/author/debra-tate/) ## Debra Tate Nov 24, 2014 6:12 PM UTC  Sharon Tate: Recollection Sharon Tate: Recollection by [Debra Tate](https://time.com/author/debra-tate/) ## Debra Tate Nov 24, 2014 6:12 PM UTC “How do you feel about Charles Manson being allowed to marry?” A flood of thoughts and emotions immediately surfaced when Time asked me the question. I am Debra Tate, the sister of Sharon Tate, who was brutally murdered by Manson and some of his followers in 1969. One thing comes immediately to mind: what my mother would have had to say on the subject. She would be outraged and say something to the effect of, “Manson has no right to marry, as he took away my daughter’s right to happiness, and to life itself.” I feel exactly the same way. The state of California has long been viewed as a liberal state, but at what point is liberal too liberal? Those who commit such extraordinarily heinous crimes against humanity should be asked to forfeit their own rights to the pleasures of life—which include marriage, the birth of children, and family relations of any kind—as they denied their victims all of these most precious gifts. Why should we as a society allow those who take _away_ life the privilege to enjoy all that life has to offer? I really struggle with this. At the same time it proves a point I have been trying to make to the general public for the last ten years. That being, the very fact Charles Manson can convince a [26-year-old woman to be his wife](http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/11/24/charles-manson-is-getting-hitched-meet-the-women-who-marry-prisoners/) shows the power he still possesses over the young and impressionable individuals who are looking for some bizarre form of leadership. It doesn’t matter how old or how sick he becomes. The fact is that this young woman [runs](http://hollywoodlife.com/2014/11/18/charles-manson-bride-afton-elaine-burton-how-they-met-facts/) a Facebook page for Charles Manson that currently has [over 80,000 “likes.](https://www.facebook.com/CharlesMansonOfficial)“ So should we allow someone like Charles Manson the privilege of getting married? Absolutely not. _Debra Tate is the author of the recently released_ [Sharon Tate: Recollection](http://www.amazon.com/dp/076245234X/?tag=timecom-20). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3602460/sharon-tate-sister-charles-manson-wife/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3602460/sharon-tate-sister-charles-manson-wife/"},"headline":"Exclusive: Sharon Tate's Sister Says Murderers Like Manson Should Have No Marriage Rights","datePublished":"2014-11-24T18:12:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:19:40.194Z","description":"Charles Manson took away my sister's right to happiness, and to life itself—he shouldn't be allowed his own","url":"https://time.com/3602460/sharon-tate-sister-charles-manson-wife/","keywords":["California","Murder","Prison"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7db113e5f2be065d/69876a8f524fc0716ddeaf02/sharon-tate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Debra Tate","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/debra-tate/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7db113e5f2be065d/69876a8f524fc0716ddeaf02/sharon-tate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Sharon Tate: Recollection","caption":"Sharon Tate: Recollection","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3602460/sharon-tate-sister-charles-manson-wife/","name":"Exclusive: Sharon Tate's Sister Says Murderers Like Manson Should Have No Marriage Rights"}}]}] ```