Nov 22 2006
Polygamy, the next topic for right-wing bloviation?
Came across this article in the WaPo about how polygamists are stepping up the battle for legal and societal acceptance….
Valerie and others among the estimated 40,000 men, women and children in polygamous communities are part of a new movement to decriminalize bigamy. Consciously taking tactics from the gay-rights movement, polygamists have reframed their struggle, choosing in interviews to de-emphasize their religious beliefs and focus on their desire to live “in freedom,” according to Anne Wilde, director of community relations for Principle Voices, a pro-polygamy group based in Salt Lake.
I’ve got mixed feelings about this. On one hand, the libertarian in me is saying, ‘Whatever.’ The unrepentant male in me is saying, ‘Wow, that could be a lot of fun, or a headache of a cosmic magnitude,’ and there’s another part of me wondering what kind of woman would even want to be in that scenario, as well as wondering what kind of effect it has on children.
It’s got me wondering, too, how the Christianists will react to this. One popular argument you hear from their side in the gay marriage debate is something that goes along the lines of, ‘First, it will be gay marriage, then polygamy. Then incest, then bestiality.’, or something similar. Of course, in Vermont during the whole civil unions fiasco, they were carrying on like Vermont was going to turn into one big Provincetown and drag queens were going to steal our children in dark of night and eat them. I haven’t heard any reports yet as to that happening, but hey, it’s only been 5 years, so there’s still time, I guess.
I really don’t see it turning into a big cultural/political battle a la gay marriage, simply because it seems to be mostly concentrated in Utah and last time I checked, there were a lot more gay people than polygamists. Utah is home to lots of Mormons and Senator Orrin Hatch, so it’s hardly representative of the rest of the country. It’ s not like there’s some national polygamist movement that has people marching in the streets or anything. It’ll be interesting to see if this gets any legs. I doubt it.
2 Responses to “Polygamy, the next topic for right-wing bloviation?”
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Timely evocation of the timeless Senator Hatch.
He was actually the subject of a Trivial Pursuit (Genus IV?) question put to our team yesterday afternoon. It was something like, “Senator Orrin Hatch said that this is ‘Our way of demonstrating the sanctity of life’”. The answer being, of coure, “Capital punishment”.
…Which evokes my all-time favorite Latin phrase, res ipsa loquitur…
He was also the subject of a piece on Frank Zappa’s ‘Guitar’ album, “Orrin Hatch on Skis’.
Of course, I always remember Orrin not for the completely assinine things he says and proposes on a regular basis. I remember the Republican presidential primary of ‘00, when he was polling at , oh, 2%, and he pleaded with a debate audience in his closing statement, ‘Please, folks, just gimme a chance here, please?’ It was pathetic.