A constant bubble-up in the same-sex marriage debate is that legalizing same-sex civil (not religious) marriage would lead us down a slipperly slope ending with 3-year olds marrying dogs and Karl Rove being frog-marched out of the White House wearing a diaper. And usually polygamy is brought up as the first slip down the slope… but I’m not sure what polygamy, on its face, has that is so bad. My understanding is that it is the polygamy that exists – that it subverts the power relationships between men and women and opens the door to domestic abuse and violence – because polygamy in theory – not practice doesn’t seem terrible to me. That it is more likely to mean minors married into the unions and child abuse. Anyone have historical context to help me out? I may sound like a dumass. I just always thought the argument was that polygamy engenders certain relatinonships and power plays that almost always mean less equality for women.
Religious Tolerance has a bit more background on the legal hairs being split.
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