Utah Democrat AG Candidate Says Polygamy Must be Allowed Based on Repeal of Sodomy Law

LifeSiteNews ^ | 10/28/08 | Thaddeus M. Baklinski

[wagglebee]

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, October 28, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Democratic Attorney General candidate Jean Welch Hill has told Utah voters that polygamists should never have to fear being prosecuted for their religion.

According to an AP report she said that the Utah bigamy statute is unconstitutional in the wake of the 2003 Supreme Court ruling Lawrence v. Texas. That case struck down the Texas sodomy law, saying it violated the due process clause and that the state had no justifiable interest intruding into the private lives of consenting adults.

"Our bigamy law still stands but, frankly, it's indefensible based on that ruling," Hill told AP. "You can prosecute for forced marriages, but to actively prosecute a polygamist for being a polygamist? You're not going to succeed."

Incumbent Republican Attorney General Mark Shurtleff says, however, that he is more concerned with polygamy being legalized under a court ruling in favor of homosexual “marriage,” than Lawrence v. Texas.

"Once you take it to the next level of marriage and children, marriage and divorce, that's different than having sex with who you want in the privacy of your home," he said in the AP report.

Utah is in a unique situation due to the legacy of the early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is the state's dominant religion. Though polygamy was abandoned as a tenet of faith in 1890, there are an estimated 37,000 polygamists in the West, most of them in Utah.

Whichever way polygamy may become lawful, commentators have long warned that as soon as homosexuality becomes acceptable there is no compelling reason to forbid polygamy.

In Canada, after the then Liberal government legalized same-sex “marriage,” Conservative leader Stephen Harper warned that it could lead to legalization of polygamy. “I believe we have to recognize the traditional definition of marriage in law, otherwise we will continue to be presented with demands that just get more and more radical,” he said.

Columnist Barbara Kay published an article in the National Post in 2005 titled "The Broken Windows Theory of Marriage," where she said, "Polygamists have not challenged the ban for the same reason people walk by an apparently abandoned car for days on end - until someone breaks one of its windows. The car is then vandalized and stripped within hours. Gay marriage is that broken window. Continuing vandalism will see marriage abolished altogether, exactly what radical gays, feminists and family law theorists wanted in the first place, and the reason why feminists disparage heterosexual, but support gay, marriage."

Kay continued, observing, "Gay marriage activists who break metaphorical car windows have no moral advantage over polygamists who slash metaphorical tires. If gender is irrelevant to marriage, why not numbers? The legal director of the Utah branch of the American Civil Liberties Union says, ‘Talking to Utah's polygamists is like talking to gays and lesbians who really want the right to live their lives.’”

Polygamist Muslims are already enjoying special exemptions in countries that don't have a tradition of polygamy but have wholeheartedly embraced homosexuality.

In February LifeSiteNews.com reported that the primacy of natural, monogamous marriage in the laws of western countries, such as Britain and Canada, was being eroded by mass immigration from Islamic states and the success of the homosexual lobby in re-writing the legal definition of marriage. LSN revealed that in Britain and Canada, immigration and welfare rules tacitly admit that polygamy, which remains illegal in both countries, is one of the new facts of life.

In Britain new rules drawn up by the UK's Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) allow Muslim men - who under Sharia law are permitted up to four wives - to claim welfare benefits for more than one wife.

Canadian lawmakers said they were "perturbed" to find out earlier this year that husbands are claiming welfare benefits for multiple wives in Ontario.

A report was released in February by the Canadian Society of Muslims that estimated that "several hundred" men in the Greater Toronto Area are in polygamous marriages and are receiving welfare payments for their multiple wives, though bigamy remains illegal in Canada and the rules officially bar applicants for welfare from claiming for more than one spouse.

Although polygamy is technically banned in the Netherlands, the marriages of Muslims who have several wives are now recognized by Dutch authorities in the cities of Rotterdam and Amsterdam, if the marriages took place in countries where having more than one wife is permitted, such as Morocco.

A Canadian study in 2006 that suggested legalizing polygamy argued that keeping polygamy illegal served no useful purpose. “Why criminalize the behaviour?” lead author of the study, Martha Bailey said. “We don't criminalize adultery. In light of the fact that we have a fairly permissive society, why are we singling out that particular form of behaviour for criminalization?”

Read related LifeSiteNews.com articles:

The Broken Windows Theory of Marriage
by Barbara Kay
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jan/050127a.html

Polygamy has Arrived: Britain and Canada Pay Welfare Benefits to Polygamist Immigrants
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/feb/08021207.html

Provincial Attorney-General Warns Canada's Polygamy Law Open to Legal Challenge
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/feb/05020406.html

Netherlands Recognises Polygamous Marriages of Muslims reports Dutch Newspaper
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/aug/08081404.html

Canadian Government Study Suggests Legalizing Polygamy
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/06011301.html

[wagglebee]

Whichever way polygamy may become lawful, commentators have long warned that as soon as homosexuality becomes acceptable there is no compelling reason to forbid polygamy.

The left has ALWAYS wanted to destroy the institution of marriage.

[wagglebee]

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[Jeff Chandler]

Well there you go.

[stylin19a]

Didn’t Utah have to adios polygamy as a condition of statehood ?

[Defiant]

A lot of people said that is a logical outcome based on the sodomy decision.

[patriot preacher]

Wow. NOBODY saw THAT coming! Outta the freakin’ blue!

Disclaimer: The above post is blatant sarcasm. Anyone who takes said post at face value is solely responsible for his/her errant interpretation of the post in question. No liability may be held against the posting party.

[Jeff Chandler]

So now kindergartners will be read “Heather Has THREE Mommies?”

[Albion Wilde]

The day in 1977 when Michelle Triola won a so-called "palimony" suit against actor Lee Marvin, aided by the liberal Californication courts, I said, "Well, that's the end of marriage as we now know it in this country," and of course, everybody laughed.

The Communist goals for overtaking this country, read into the Congressional Record in 1963, most certainly included breaking down the traditional family and promoting every form of perversion and exception to any rule thereof. Now we are at a point of absolute chaos for children.

[Jim Noble]

Utah Democrat AG Candidate Says Polygamy Must be Allowed Based on Repeal of Sodomy Law

Well, the sodomy law has not been "repealed". Courts can't repeal laws, and we should stop calling their injunctions against enforcement acts of repeal.

That having been said, he's obviously right. If Lawrence v. Texas stands as precedent, there's NO WAY laws against polygamy can be enforced.

[Defiant]

So now kindergartners will be read “Heather Has THREE Mommies?”

As long as there is only one daddy, yes.

[csmusaret]

Polygamy will be legalized when a bi-sexual man sues for the right to marry his boyfriend and his girlfriend.

[X-FID]

Democratic Attorney General candidate Jean Welch Hill has told Utah voters that polygamists should never have to fear being prosecuted for their religion.

That's funny, I thought they were prosecuted for polygomy.

[Defiant]

Some more than others.

[Zakeet]

POLYGAMY IS A HIDEOUS MORMON PRACTICE

Male teens are frequently dumped on the streets of places like Salt Lake City by polygamous Mormon sects because there aren't enough females to go around. Over 400 abandoned young men are kept by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in one school in Salt Lake City alone. When they graduate from high school, they are unceremoniously discarded back onto the streets. You can read more about this HERE.

Perhaps worse is the fate awaiting the girls. They are taken from their homes as teens (some as young as 14 or 15) and given as wives to men in their 50's to essentially serve as breed stock in order to call home spirit babies. You can read more about this HERE and HERE.

Polygamy is an embarrassment to modern Mormonism, in part because of:

1. The terrible effect polygamy has on people.

2. The teaching polygamy was essential to progress to the highest levels of godhood and this practice would never end.

   For behold, I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory. (D&C 132:4,21)

3. The obvious contradiction caused by condemnation of polygamy in other Mormon scripture.

   Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord. (BoM Jacob 2:24)

4. The exposition of Mormonism's prophet, Joseph Smith, as a serial statutory rapist (eleven of Smith's wives were between ages 14 and 20), a swinger (11 of Smith's wives were married and cohabiting with their husbands, while married to Smith), and a liar (Smith repeatedly denied he engaged in polygamy).

5. The exposition of the Mormon Church as liars and vacillators as they denied-affirmed and prohibited-commanded-prohibited polygamy.

6. The Mormon Church abandoned polygamy only after the U.S. Government disincorporated the Church and ordered its property seized. This raises the troubling trilemma of whether: (a) Mormonism's god was stupid and/or wrong when he proclaimed polygamy was everlasting, or (b) Joseph Smith was a false prophet when he received this revelation, or (c) the Church's current leaders are false prophets by placing material gain and political expediency ahead of divine revelation.

You can read more about the history of Mormonism and polygamy HERE and HERE.

There is an excellent video (approximately 90 minutes long) on polygamy HERE. It is well worth the watch in my opinion. (Incidentally, the sponsor provides copies of the DVD without charge to LDS members)

I also strongly recommend you visit the Utah Attorney General's web page on polygamy HERE. You may also want to review the AG's Primer on polygamy (there is a link to the pdf document at the bottom of the first paragraph) with the understanding it is emotionally disturbing.

[paudio]

That case struck down the Texas sodomy law, saying it violated the due process clause and that the state had no justifiable interest intruding into the private lives of consenting adults.

I think the equivalent to this case is a three-some or a group sex by consenting adults regardless of their marital status. I agree that the state should not involve on those actions. What she is arguing for, however, is polygamy marriage; not sexual activity.

[gidget7]

Hey Jean, can you spell “E L E C T I O N L O S S”?

[P-Marlowe]

Hey Newzjunkey. Here’s your SLIPPERY SLOPE IN ACTION!

[Ol' Sparky]

Congressional Record--Appendix, pp. A34-A35

January 10, 1963

Current Communist Goals

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.