Polygamy: Is the slope really slipping?
posted by Kaimipono D. Wenger
Matt Yglesias thinks so. Quoting a NYT piece, he suggests that the slope is slipping — that legalized gay marriage is leading to . . . um, what?
Well, apparently it’s leading to some broader acceptance of the idea of polygamy between consenting adults. Is that really slope slippage?
Yglesias notes the article’s discussion of broader social acceptance for polygamy. In addition, as a number of articles and court cases have pointed out, anti-polygamy laws are not currently enforced for stand-alone violations. In this regard, they currently look a lot like the (now invalid) anti-sodomy laws, which were also, in recent decades, not typically enforced for stand-alone violations but as added offenses in other prosecutions. (See, e.g., Christoper Leslie’s Standing in the Way of Equality, 2001 Wisconsin Law Review 29 (2001).)
However, there are important areas in which the slope is definitely _not_ slipping. In particular, polygamy rights advocates have failed, so far, in attempts to decriminalize polygamy or to secure marriage rights. Recent cases include the 10th Circuit’s dismissal of Bronson v. Swensen (polygamists seeking a marriage license), and the Utah Supreme Court’s holding in State v. Holm (upholding criminal statute, post-Lawrence).
Public opinion may be changing, slowly. Enforcement has certainly changed in recent years. But for the moment, in important places, the slope isn’t slipping at all.
September 10, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Posted in: Religion
Print This Post
Leave a Reply