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]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204619004574322084279548434.html

"This week’s Newsweek reports more than 500,000 polyamorous households in the U.S."

Now they are not all plural marriages, but most if not all of them would be open to forming one.


http://proclus.tripod.com/radical/faq.htm

"How many Polygamists are there in Utah?

About 60,000 "


So, half a million households with an average of somewhere over 2 members each are Polyamorous, and 60,000 are mormon polygamists.

From anectdotal evidence (I'm not sure anyone has ever studied it) the Christian Polygamy movement is about the same size as the Mormon one, so about 60,000 there and maybe another 60,000 Muslim polygamists.

All totaled that is somewhere between 175,000 and 200,000 religious polygamists out of somewhere over a million polyamorists

These numbers are all rough estimates because no one has ever been able to do an in depth study of any of these groups because most of them are deeply in the closet for fear of losing their jobs, freedom, and or kids as a result of their life choices but the numbers generally match what I see after having been a part of the Polyamorous community for the last 20 years.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Well if the issues in sealwhiskers' post are addressed, I don't see why not. I'm honestly too ignorant on the supporting demographics to determine a trend in any direction. That site alone is pretty biased and the wikipedia article on it paints it as a religious phenomenon, but like I said I don't really know so if it's really a big secular thing, why not.