Polygamy, gay marriage and Bill O'Reilly
The polygamous Darger family — Joe and two of his three wives, Vicki and Alina — went on The O'Reilly Factor last week.Watch the clip here.
Host Bill O'Reilly framed their appearance in the context of gay marriage, starting off by saying, "We said years ago that if the country eventually permits gay marriage everywhere then other groups will want the same treatment."
He was, of course, an aggressive interviewer, working hard to link polygamy to gay marriage — part of the classic conservative "slippery slope" argument against gay marriage.
To Alina:
"Do you believe that its your right as an American, Alina, to have your union legalized ... so polygamous marriage becomes the law of the land, like gay marriage has here in New York and other states?"
Both she and Vicki replied that she'd like to see plural marriage decriminalized, not recognized by the state (an action you'd imagine that would lead to all kinds of other sticky questions, like how to organize a 5-way divorce settlement).
And they stuck to that position, despite O'Reilly's dogged questioning. (One kind of great moment was when Joe tried to break in while O'Reilly was talking to Alina, and first O'Reilly and then Alina said, "No, I can handle it." And she definitely did).
He seemed a little disappointed that they didn't give him a clear connection.
In a way, I'm surprised this doesn't come up more often.
The Browns of Sister Wives fame are suing to have Utah's law banning polygamy struck down (they have a briefing deadline in that case next Monday Oct. 17, by the way) and the legal principle they are relying on is the same one at the heart of the gay marriage movement: The right to privacy, and the concept that government stops at the bedroom.
Still, is it accurate to connect the push for decriminalization of polygamy to gay marriage?
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The following questions arise...
ReplyDelete1. IF polygamy would be decriminalized, would same-sex marriages be possible of more then two partners?
2. IF polygamy would be legal, thus decriminalized, ie having multiple partners in one marriage arrangement, would it then be possible to have four.five, six men or women marry each other?
and
3. IF polygamy were federally legal, ie the protection of privacy country-wide invoked, would it also be allowed to have the males and women who are in such a multiple relation to adopt children? I mean, would one individual be allowed to adopt a child and then adopt another with another partner in the same marriage?
One wonders what the Supreme Court would have to say on this.......
What's YOUR opinion?