Polygamists Still Riding the Coattails of LGBT Activists

Marriage,

Polygamists are still riding the coattails of the same-sex marriage movement.

In an article re-published by The Daily Signal, John Murawski writes,

Activists [for polygamy] are moving to dismantle the legal and social barriers, and say their goals are beginning to take shape.

They are laying the groundwork to have their cause become the next domino to fall in a long line of civil rights victories secured by trans people, gays, lesbians, women, and blacks.

Murawski cites several articles from professional journals and news sources regarding the inroads polygamists have made in society over the past decade.

We have written about this issue for several years, now.

Polygamists know that redefining marriage has helped them.

Same-sex marriage’s fundamental argument is that a person should be able to marry whoever they want. If that’s true, polygamists argue, then a person also should be able to marry as many people as they want.

Back in 2015 when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down state marriage laws nationwide, Chief Justice John Roberts made this point when he wrote his dissenting opinion, saying,

“One immediate question invited by the majority’s position [regarding same-sex marriage] is whether States may retain the definition of marriage as a union of two people. . . . 

“It is striking how much of the majority’s reasoning would apply with equal force to the claim of a fundamental right to plural marriage.”

We’ve said all along that redefining marriage would have all kinds of consequences. Advancement of polygamy is just one of them.

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Polygamists Win in Court Using Trail Blazed by Same-Sex Marriage

Marriage, ,

Last December U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups issued a ruling effectively decriminalizing polygamy in Utah.

Under Utah law, a person may not file for more than one marriage license or cohabit with more than one “spouse.” The law is intended to prevent both state-recognized polygamy and the unofficial polygamy practiced by some people in which a man is legally married to one woman, but has other “wives” to which he is not legally married.

Kody Brown and his wives, stars of the reality TV show “Sister Wives” depicting their polygamous lifestyle, filed suit against the State of Utah over the law, and last December Judge Clark Waddoups struck the portion of the law preventing people from living together in polygamous relationships; Judge Waddoups did, however, leave the portion of the law preventing a person from filing for more than one marriage license. Since most polygamous groups do not typically file for multiple state marriage licenses anyway, this effectively decriminalizes polygamy in the State of Utah.

A stay was placed on Judge Waddoups’ initial ruling last year, pending a decision on whether or not Utah owed the Browns any financial compensation. This week, Judge Waddoups ruled the State of Utah must pay the Browns’ attorney fees, and put the full force of his December ruling into effect.

This ruling is significant, because the logic employed by Judge Waddoups decriminalizing polygamy is the very same logic being used to advance same-sex marriage around the country. Gay activists have long dismissed claims that same-sex marriage would lead to polygamy as “fear mongering.” However, Judge Waddoups’ ruling owes a lot to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Lawrence v. Texas ruling which has been used over and over again in court to argue against everything from the federal Defense of Marriage Act to state marriage amendments.

Judge Waddoups’ ruling largely hinges on the following: (more…)

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Polygamists Successfully Using Same-Sex Marriage Arguments in Court

Marriage, ,

You may have seen the news, yesterday, that a federal judge in Utah struck part of the state’s ban on polygamy.

In effect, the judge decriminalized polygamy, although he did not go so far as to say the state must give legal recognition to plural “marriages.”

The judge’s ruling relied in part on court rulings same-sex marriage activists have obtained over the years, specifically citing Lawrence v. Texas, a case that has been central to virtually every lawsuit over same-sex marriage, including the Supreme Court decision last summer to strike part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

We’ve written before about how polygamists hope to benefit from same-sex marriage. Now it’s happening. Polygamist cults in Utah are riding the coattails of same-sex marriage.

Below is a video of Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins discussing the issue on CNN last night.

Click here to read more about the court ruling.

Click here to read the judge’s opinion.

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