April 24, 2003 Salt Lake City-AP -- A Republican senator criticized by gay groups now is also under fire from polygamists.
The criticism comes after Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum lumped together polygamy -- or multiple marriages -- with homosexuality and incest. Santorum said they are all in opposition to a healthy, traditional family.
The head of a Utah church says Santorum was wrong to put polygamy on that list. Owen Allred heads one of Utah's largest polygamist sects and says the practice of one man marrying several women is a moral and religious tradition dating back to Abraham.
He tells The Salt Lake Tribune when Santorum compared the practice with homosexuality or incest, he defiled it as "immoral and dirty."