Utah Judge: criminalization of "cohabitation" unconstitutional; conservative pearl clutching ensues

[moonshaz]

Utah Polygamy Court Ruling On 'Sister Wives' Case Confirms Fears Of Social Conservatives

(RNS) Fueling debates over marriage and religious freedom, a federal judge declared on Dec. 13 Utah laws criminalizing polygamy are unconstitutional, ruling on a case involving the Brown family from TLC’s reality series “Sister Wives.”

Comments

[chaya]

General tip: often when the article title is misleading or reveals too little about the case, submitters will write their own summary of the article in the LJ subject line and then include the actual article title at the beginning of the body of the text, underlined. This is totally acceptable to do.

[crossfire]

I was gonna say, there is a long tradition of snarky/amusing summary titles in _p. :)

[chaya]

A proud tradition if I do say so myself

[moonshaz]

True, and I think I had it in the back of my mind to do something like that but forgot by the time I posted it.

Just fixed that little detail!

[nesmith]

“But if love and mutual consent become the definition of what the boundaries of marriage are, can we as a society any longer even define marriage coherently?”

Considering how stupid the FRC is, I'm guessing this asshole would gladly go back to the time when marriage had very little/nothing to do with love OR consent.

[omimouse]

And is that *really* the hill they want to die on? I mean, fighting against the idea of love and mutual consent? They have long since passed into the realm of Saturday morning cartoon villiany.

[nesmith]

I really think they have no idea what they think anymore, and now it's just mindless screaming over anything that's different.

[daf9]

It takes so little to scare social conservatives I'm not at all surprised that this ruling does. Really maybe it should. After all legalizing gay marriage began with the decriminalization of homosexual behavior.

[silver_apples]

polygamy, a practice that very often victimizes women and children

Unlike "traditional" marriage, where women and children are always safe and happy.

I would think de-criminalizing cohabitation would protect women in this situation--they can ask for help without getting arrested themselves.

[squeeful]

It's not an either-or. Saying one thing isn't safe doesn't mean you're saying another is.

[luminescnece]

If three (or more) people want to consensually marry each other they should be allowed.

What we're looking to stop is abuse. Not cohabitation.

The only way I'd get married ever again would be with more than one person.