Stepping Up

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

And so it begins:

Kody Brown is a proud polygamist, and a relatively famous one. Now Mr. Brown, his four wives and 16 children and stepchildren are going to court to keep from being punished for it.

The family is the focus of a reality TV show, “Sister Wives,” that first appeared in 2010. Law enforcement officials in the Browns’ home state, Utah, announced soon after the show began that the family was under investigation for violating the state law prohibiting polygamy.

On Wednesday, the Browns are expected to file a lawsuit to challenge the polygamy law.

The lawsuit is not demanding that states recognize polygamous marriage. Instead, the lawsuit builds on a 2003 United States Supreme Court decision, Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down state sodomy laws as unconstitutional intrusions on the “intimate conduct” of consenting adults.

I'm in favor of gay marriage for the same reason I'm in favor of legal polygamy, legalized adult incest, and all the rest - the state really shouldn't be telling anyone else who they can and cannot be in a recognized relationship with, full stop. Unfortunately, I've found that many who agree with gay marriage do not feel the same way about these other types of adult relationships.

Why is it that "equal marriage" only exists for many when it deals with their idea of reality? Should hardcore advocates of gay marriage be lining up behind the Brown family in solidarity and support of their situation? If you believe the US Constitution allows for, if not outright mandates, gay marriage, do you feel the same way here?

Comments

[rasilio.livejournal.com]

So you're saying that we should deny civil rights to some people because other people will abuse those civil rights?


Lets step through this.

Some gays practice unsafe sex and in some communities it is rampant. This unsafe sex constitutes a grave public health risk, ergo we must outlaw homosexuality.

You just provided the perfect argument for outlawing homosexuality and literally EVERY other human activity that anyone might want to outlaw.

Don't you think it would make more sense to legalize plural marriage and then criminalize the actual problematic behavior? Remember, as I said above to Underlankers, Mormon Polygamists aren't even the majority of plural marriage supporters and they probably aren't even the plurality as the Christian Polygamy supporters is just about as large and possibly slightly larger and the non religious Polyamory movement might just be larger than both.

Remember, there are only an estimated 50,000 Mormon Fundamentalists in the entire world and not all of them are parts of polygamous households yet you want to ban the practice because of poor behavior on a subset of this tiny minority of 50,000 people.

[sealwhiskers.livejournal.com]

No, what I am saying is that you have to serve up civil rights in a way so that it fits state and other potential involved parties in this, not just the leading patriarchs of the "old school" Mormon houses.

If you read my comment further below, it should be abundantly clear that I am not against poly-marriage, but what I am saying is that if you want state help with child support - there has to be some state involvement in the rules of this. State absolutely has a right to shape legislation. And the law should absolutely allow women to have multiple partners too, otherswise no deal.

Your example on homosexuality is not applicable, since in the case of old school mormon problem families with fathers-in-hiding, the victims are not the consenting adults, but the kids, suffering form malnourishment and poverty. This is a real social problem in rural parts of Utah.