Teens defend polygamy at Salt Lake rally

[deadparrot]

SALT LAKE CITY - Calling their lives blessed, more than a dozen young women and girls from polygamist families in Utah spoke at a rally Saturday, calling for a change in state laws and the right to live the life and religion they choose.

"Because of our beliefs, many of our people have been incarcerated and had their basic human rights stripped of them, namely life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," said a 19-year-old identified only as Tyler. "I didn't come here today to ask for your permission to live my beliefs. I shouldn't have to."

Polygamy is banned in the Utah Constitution and is a felony offense. The rally was unusual because those who practice polygamy typically try to live under the radar.

It drew about 250 supporters to City Hall, said Mary Batchelor, co-founder of Principle Voices of Polygamy, which helped organize the event.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060820/ap_on_re_us/polygamy_rally

[msongs]

1. probably a religion that believes in death to gays eh?

yet they want freedom to choose for THEMSELVES and not others?

wouldnt be surprised at that.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/poltical-shirts.htm

[G2099]

2. polygamy s/b legal

Government should stay out of marriage of "consenting adults" - adults are not children who need to be dictated to by big brother government.

[LynnTheDem]

4. I agree;

I don't care what sex, or how many; marry who you want and be happy. If everyone involved is a consenting adult that should be the end of it. Period.

[Kagemusha]

7. Where did you get the idea these people marry as adults.

I thought the real problem was a lot of these girls are married in their teens. That one bothers me.

[notadmblnd]

23. That's right marry who you want and as many as you want

but when you have 15 kids by 6 or 7 different women and you find yourself having trouble feeding them... don't reach for the government cheese.. remember, the government needs to stay out of your business.

[Blue_Tires]

32. +1

[LynnTheDem]

35. And you think babies only happen to people who are married???

:rofl:

[notadmblnd]

36. I'm sorry, I don't see where my post said that

:shrug:

[Irreverend IX]

12. Just one problem...

How do you handle inheiritance, disbursement of property in case of divorce, etc.? These things are hard enough to manage in two-person relationships. If the legal status of marriage is granted to big married groups, it'll cause nightmarish legal disputes when the relationships go sour. What happens when one partner wants to divorce another but the other partners want to remain together?

[wickerwoman]

21. It should be decriminalized

but there's no way it could be legal. Think about it this way: let's say polygamy was legal. I could marry as many people as I liked and they would all be eligible for my disability benefits or veterans benefits and could all get green cards. I could set up a really tidy little business marrying foreign men for $10,000 a pop and taking a cut of all the benefits they signed up for.

I don't think polygamists should end up in jail (as long as they marry consenting *adults*) but I think for legal purposes you should only be able to register one person as a partner.

[Solo_in_MD]

22. I agree - for consenting adults, which most are not

[IndianaGreen]

30. In this case, polygamy is a cover for pedophilia

All these relationships involve older men preying on young girls.

[bananas]

3. Americans support serial polygamy: divorce

[daleo]

11. That's serial monogamy

Some may think serial monogamy is equivalent to polygamy, but the term "serial polygamy" doesn't fit. A sort of corporate arrangement, where people were free to come and go from a collective marriage (many husbands and wives) would fit that term better.

[saracat]

5. Tempted to ask the site what reason a woman

with an ounce of self respect would enter into such a union? And why should their be many husbands? Why is it only women they treat as chattel?

[Yupster]

6. I don't know any polygimists, men or women,

but if I was one and if someone asked me how I could be in such a marriage, I'd smile and kindly answer that my marriage was really none of anyone else's business, but thanks for asking.

[Mabel Dodge]

8. I think the way Mormons practice polygamy is wrong.

Polygamy is fine when consenting adults of both sexes have that option; however the thing of just men having multiple partners is offensive to me. With that said, the kid is right; he shouldn’t have to ask anyone’s permission to live his beliefs. As long as you’re not hurting anyone else you should be free to be a sexist jerk if that’s what you really want to do. :eyes:

[bicentennial_baby]

10. I think you're confusing polygamy and polyamory

The Mormons are the main practitioners of polygamy, as far as it being an organized "tradition", or whatever, and involving the "men w/ multiple partners" thing, at leats in the US.

Polyamory is what consenting adults of both genders engage in, both casually and often quite committed-ly. :)

[Mabel Dodge]

13. I stand corrected.

What are those Mormon women thinking??? Polyamory sounds like a better deal. :grouphug:

[fishwax]

17. polygamy can be multiple male or female spouses

or, i suppose, some of each. It can be either polygyny (having more than one wife) or polyandry (having more than one husband). Splinter mormons are often the cause for discussions of polygamy, though with respect to those groups it is always polygyny and never polyandry. Polyamory would not imply multiple (or even any) marriages.:)

[bicentennial_baby]

18. It can in some countries

In the Netherlands, and Sweden, I think yes, more than 2 people can be married. :)

But other than Mormons, who are the big groups, at least in the US, promoting polygamy in any form? :shrug:

[fishwax]

19. I don't know of any others

even the mormons don't--it's actually splinter mormon fundies that do. But of course it's no more legal for them than for whatever individuals outside the fundie mormons engage in it.

I only meant to point out that polygamy doesn't specify gender, and need not be just "men with multiple partners" :) I didn't know that about the Netherlands and Sweden, though.

[krispos42]

9. If marriage is a contract, then it should be legal

I think it would require the consent of all other marriage partners to work out legally, and should definately include multiple men as well as multiple women.

For example, Alan and Barbara get married. Barbara, who has bisexual tendencies, also wants to marry Colleen, and gets Alan's permission. Later on, Alan meets Deborah, so gets permission from Barbara and Colleen. Deborah loves Alan but also loves Eric, so she asks Alan and Barbara and Colleen for permission...

Got, what a tangled mess. Might make for some real interesting combinations, (and bootleg videos) but man, what a mess.

We already have organized extramarital relationships; it's called swinging. I think requiring the consents of all involved would most likely limit polygamist marriages to only three or four people in most cases because it would become progressively harder to reach a consensus.

http://www.friendshipexpress.com

[bicentennial_baby]

15. Swinging, organized?

:rofl:

Oh, that's rich...The very people who make committed, polyfidelitous people like me look like sex addicts and sluts...Uh, yeah, organized... :rofl:

[0007]

25. Are we still into wife swapping these days?

Give me a "P"

[Red_Viking]

14. There's more to it than the right to marry

Many of these girls are "married" to stepfathers, some as young as 13. The polygamous communities are usually run by one man, who has the power to decide whether a husband can keep his wives and property. Run afoul of the leader, and he'll strip the husband of his wives, giving them to another man. Thus, "stepfamilies" are created, with stepfathers free to marry their young stepdaughters.

Mormons also consider everyone outside their faith as "Gentiles," and feel no compunction about cheating non-Mormons. These polygamous families end up collecting a huge amount of state and federal assistance in welfare, food stamps, and medicaid. It's OK though, because they're taking from the "Gentiles."

I will agree, whatever arrangements consenting adults want to agree to is none of my business. But there are girls getting married off, against their will and to much older men, who would be unable to lease an apartment or buy a car because they're under 18. That's not much of a contract!

Check out Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer.

Peace,

RV

[krispos42]

16. Well, that's just illegal

I was talking about consenting adults in equal relationships. What the Mormans seem to be doing is having a religious but not legal marriage. And it looks like it is only multiple-wives, which is unfair to the ladies. And some of these 'ladies' are either girls or blood relatives or both. Ewwwwwwww!

[w4rma]

20. Unequal relationships. Master/near-Slave relationships.

Elitist relationships that only the very very wealthy could afford without cheating the social service system.

Corrupt relationships as they usually toss extra males out onto the streets with nothing to their names.

The submissive partners in the relationship only relatively rarely get to spend time with their "masters" and must spend the rest of their time doing the things that the "master" doesn't have the extra time for such as raising the children, keeping the house, taking an extra job, and basically being a reproductive machine to churn out more "wives".

[Joe Bacon]

24. If these kids advocate a man having multiple wives, THEN

It's only fair that they should also advocate women having multiple husbands.

[Akim]

26. Why aren't there any Mormon women with multiple husbands?

[Akim]

28. Isn't what's good for the goose also good for the gander? n/t

[JVS]

34. No

[XemaSab]

27. I think polygamy should be legal and regulated

Monogamy is our cultural norm, but there are other ways of forming a family.

If it was legal, then we could keep an eye on all the sleazy parts, like marrying underage women and relatives. It's like the war on drugs: criminalizing it makes more problems than it solves.

[Akim]

29. And, incidentally, blacks were excluded from Mormon Church as late as...

20 years ago when the head of the church (called its "Prophet") received a "revelation" that blacks were human beings.

[FormerOstrich]

31. That is correct.....

Historically, their revelations are nicely timed around Supreme Court decisions.

[insleeforprez]

33. I would say that I am against polygamy

To me, the important number when talking about marriage is not two, but one. As in, committment to one partner. It is nearly impossible to be equally committed to two or more people.

Of course, people will use this to justify banning gay marriage. Which is nonsense. Polygamy is a choice (right??), and homosexuality is not.