Yeah it was definitely a retcon and a mostly pointless one at that. Just playing devil’s advocate.
I think if they had addressed the absurdity of the rule in-movie as one of the many reasons the Jedi order is somewhat broken and archaic and tied it into Anakin’s disillusionment with the order, I would be fine with it. But, of course, as is there’s no point beyond Lucas trying to make it an epic love story or whatever.