ummm... why does the husband support? if he has 3-10 wives, they need to be working, while the husband relaxes... 2 wives can cook and clean, 2 wives can take care of the kids, and the rest needs to get to work and make some money.... sounds like a great idea...

From Wikipedia on Polygamy in North America

Polygamy today

Those who live in their own communities tend to find their additional spouses from within their own communities or networks of like communities. This can involve daughters of polygamous families entering into arranged marriages with older men who already have a number of wives. This is commonly called daughter swapping. Marriage age can be young and sometimes below the legal minimum. Young men are often forced to leave the communities so that the women they would otherwise marry will be left to provide wives for older polygamous males. It is also not uncommon for fairly close relatives to marry, leading to inbreeding, though part of this comes from the difficulty of keeping track of the complex net of familial relations.

Recent polygamy cases

The practice of informal polygamy among fundamentalist groups presents interesting legal issues. It has been considered difficult to prosecute polygamists for bigamy, in large part because they are rarely formally married under state laws. Without evidence that suspected offenders have multiple formal or common-law marriages, these groups are merely subject to the laws against adultery or unlawful cohabitation — laws which are not commonly enforced because they also criminalize other behavior that is otherwise socially sanctioned. However, some "Fundamentalist" polygamists marry women prior to the age of consent, or commit fraud to obtain welfare and other public assistance.

<snip>

In 2001, in the state of Utah in the United States, Juab County Attorney David O. Leavitt successfully prosecuted Thomas Green who was convicted of criminal non-support and four counts of bigamy for having five serially monogamous marriages, while living with previous legally divorced wives. His cohabitation was considered evidence of a common-law marriage to the wives he had divorced while still living with them. That premise was subsequently affirmed by the Utah Supreme Court in State v. Green, as applicable only in the State of Utah. Green was also convicted of child rape and criminal non-support.

In 2005, the state attorneys-general of Utah and Arizona issued a primer on helping victims of domestic violence and child abuse in polygamous communities. Enforcement of crimes such as child abuse, domestic violence, and fraud were emphasized over the enforcement of anti-polygamy and bigamy laws. The priorities of local prosecutors are not covered by this statement.

<snip>

In 2008, starting on April 4, Texas State officials took 436 children into temporary legal custody after Rozita Swinton claiming to be a 16-year-old girl made a series of phone calls to authorities in late March, claiming she had been beaten and forced to become a "spiritual" wife to an adult man. Acting on her calls, authorities raided the ranch in Eldorado, about 40 miles south of San Angelo. The YFZ Ranch is owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), a Mormon offshoot that practices polygamy. Two men were arrested for obstructing the raid. The children ranged in age from infants to teenagers, including teenage mothers and pregnant teens.


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Arranged marriages, underage marriage, child rape, welfare fraud, physical abuse, etc. Even non-FLDS polygamists tend to group together as a community. They may not formally marry, but chances are that many of the same things go on in these communities as FLDS ones.

This is the real face of polygamy. In virtually all cases, only men take multiple spouses. Women do not. It is a very chauvinist tradition. This is partly why they form communities: so the men, being fewer, can band together to maintain control over the women who outnumber them.

And now they want the tax shelters granted by the IRS? Excuse me, but I think these guys only want to pay zero income tax by being able marry enough women to have all the deductions add up. That would mean tax code needs to be rewritten just for a small portion of the population.

Even if polygamy were recognized, there will still be many who will remain unofficially married just to avoid the paper trail to conceal dirty secrets.

and yet, as adults, that should be their choice

the way the law has decided in the case of homosexual marriage


,,cant bar people from consentual relationship, or their 'right' to be married, because of what MIGHT happen

if laws are broken after the marriage, enforce justice,, but the marriage should have the same 'right' to be recognized as same sex, or opposite sex 'marriages'

,,to be consistent, and 'fair' with each citizens 'right' to be married

I would still personally prefer to see such 'legally recognized' arrangements be called 'civil unions',,,,but thats a case of semantics at this point,,,

I think that all the benefits of being married should be suspended for all people. That would solve the problem.

Currently, no marriage right is being infringed upon. Polygamists are allowed to marry same as anyone else - one spouse at a time. What polygamists are arguing for is the right to marry multiple spouses within the eyes of the law.

Where as same sex marriages were not allowed at all. Polygamy is a choice. The argument for homosexuals has been that their predicament is not a choice, but innate by birth. The two situations are not similar in the least. Marriage laws made homosexuals second-class citizens unless they deviated from their own genetic make up, as if being punished for something they have no control over.

Im sorry, but same sex is as much a choice as opposite sex or multiple partners. the arguments could be made that homosexuals were allowed to marry 'the same as anyone else' to the opposite sex

but that didnt take into account that they simply did not feel the attraction to/preference for the opposite sex, so it was discriminatory

likewise, polygamists may not feel attraction to just one person, so its discriminatory on the same grounds, to tell them they have to have just one....

Yep.

Same sex marriages are a bit different, as they're still marriages between two consenting adults, just as marriages have been.

Polygamy is not the same, as it's not only between two adults. But like I said before, it wouldn't affect me, so if they want to work toward making it legal, go for it.

i'm with ya. but i do think their claim to equal due process is valid. i don't see government being involved in marriage decisions whether it be who you marry or how many. laws of abuse and such will still be there to protect children. i just don't see that an argument can be made against polygamy that holds any more validity than the same argument made against gay marriage. live and let live. besides, i'm countin on islam being right and i'll have seventy two virgins after i die. hmmmmmmmmm. come to think of it. have i ever had a virgin???????????

ya only get the virgins if ya strap a bomb on ya and kill a few infidels
better get busy with your conversion before all the virgins are spoken for, they must be going fast, there is only so many of them

ah, crap. i thought they meant i had to be bombed. done that many a saturday night in bars looking for virgins. dang.

I tend to agree, the state really has no place in our relationships in the first place.

virgins hang out in bars? lol

actually the state does have business in our relationships when it comes to protecting the kid's well being and financial equity for the husband and wife. other than that i'd agree that governemnt has no place in our relationships.

What happens when polygamy cults go through a dramatic rise, using tax shelters for multiple marriages and religion to avoid paying taxes? Is that not a problem for our government? Is that not unbalanced and inequitable to the rest of us who are monogamous? Not to mention, you are willing to scar hundreds of children for life just for the sake of 10 men's right to consentual relationship? You do realize that polygamy generally only begins as consentual, but usually develops into non-consentual as women become regarded as slaves, right?

You know Elizabeth Smart was treated like a young second wife during her kidnapping, right? Sexual-assault was one of the charges Smart filed against Mitchell.

The thing that surprises me most is that all the women in this thread are apparently backing legalization of polygamy. That actually scares me.

Because most heterosexuals never have to stop and consider how they got that way, they do not understand the "being born" that way even though they were...lol

But I agree.

I am also not against multiple wifes and husbands if one so chooses as long as all are of age and mental consent. Hopefully they make lots of money for the alimony and child support that will ensue.

poor kids,, I guess pandoras box is open


gonna be one HECK of a confusing society fifteen or twenty years from now,, for the kids,,,

its not been proven we are 'born' with a preference

yes, but bigamy laws prevent marrying another person until the current marriage is desolved legally. so how can you say 'no marriage right is being infringed upon'????

just sounds like a way for the muslims to get more of a foothold in our country...