Posted on 07/01/2015 7:24:07 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
am a gay marriage advocate. So why do I spend so much of my time arguing about polygamy? Opposing the legalization of plural marriage should not be my burden, because gay marriage and polygamy are opposites, not equivalents.
By allowing high-status men to hoard wives at the expense of lower-status men, polygamy withdraws the opportunity to marry from people who now have it; same-sex marriage, by contrast, extends the opportunity to marry to people who now lack it. One of these things, as they say on Sesame Street, is not like the other.
Yet this non sequitur just won't go away: "Once we stop limiting marriage to male-plus-female, we'll have to stop limiting it at all! Why only two? Why not three or four? Why not marriage to your brother? Or your dog? Or a toaster?" If there's a bloody shirt to wave in the gay-marriage debate, this is it.
The shortest answer is in some ways the best: Please stop changing the subject! When you straights give yourselves the right to marry two people or your brother or your dog or a toaster, we gay people should get that right, too. Until then, kindly be serious.
If I sound exasperated, it's because the polygamy argument doesn't stand up to scrutiny. That doesn't stop it from popping up everywhere. A good example of the species can be found in this publication, where Fredrik deBoer welcomed Politico Magazine's readers "to the exciting new world of the slippery slope."
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
The author: Jonathan Rauch is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America.
DENIER!,,,,
Of course he would argue against polygamy. It would underscore the immorality of the Gay movement.
I don’t think the author fails to understand the matter.
I think the author is dishonest about the matter.
Ten years ago this was said about homosexual marriage.
Dream on, guy
If homosexuals can marry via an Unconstitional judicial power grab and hardly a peep, crossdressers get “Courage” awards with panderers falling over each other in the process . .
Then the Multiple Marriage Crowd can’t be too far behind
Nor the pedophiles
And who knows what else
Yup.
He’s lying and knows he’s lying.
So how does the 14th amendment apply to his select group and not everyone else? The TX lawsuit going all the way to the Supreme’s and then them agreeing to use the 14th opened that door, not anyone else....
Watching this person weave their way through the denial process for another “It’s all about live” group is a real eye opener.
This guy is a moron!
Ever heard of Islam, you mental midget!
They will run with the undefinition of marriage. Thanks SCOTUS!
Watching this person weave their way through the denial process for another “It’s all about love” group is a real eye opener.
What a moron. No logic whatsoever.
By allowing high-status men to hoard wives
What makes him think this is a one way street. Sexist pig.
He acts like this hasn’t happened already.
Sorry Bubba the black robed tyrants said I can marry anyone, anything, or whatever multiples of each I desire.
LOL, no difference
Pretty much a textbook example of “special pleading”.
Here’s the gist of his argument as to why Polygamy won’t follow this decision:
When a high-status man takes two wives (and one man taking many wives, or polygyny, is almost invariably the real-world pattern), a lower-status man gets no wife. If the high-status man takes three wives, two lower-status men get no wives. And so on.
This competitive, zero-sum dynamic sets off a competition among high-status men to hoard marriage opportunities, which leaves lower-status men out in the cold. Those men, denied access to life’s most stabilizing and civilizing institution, are unfairly disadvantaged and often turn to behaviors like crime and violence. The situation is not good for women, either, because it places them in competition with other wives and can reduce them all to satellites of the man.
He then links to a study here:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/uobc-mrm012312.php
According to the research, “monogamy’s main cultural evolutionary advantage over polygyny is the more egalitarian distribution of women, which reduces male competition and social problems.”
The study found that monogamous marriage “results in significant improvements in child welfare, including lower rates of child neglect, abuse, accidental death, homicide and intra-household conflict.” And: “by shifting male efforts from seeking wives to paternal investment, institutionalized monogamy increases long-term planning, economic productivity, savings and child investment.”
Group Homosexual Marriage and Group BiSex Marriage and Group GLBTS Marriage is the wave of the future.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.