It is difficult to reconcile my very liberal philosophies to my revulsion at polygamy. The majority of polygamists are members of a fundamentalist Mormon cult that is based along the Utah-Arizona border (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.) Although I really have no interest in how consenting adults behave towards each other as long as they do no harm to others, I make an exception when polygamy enters the picture. As a longtime journalist who has written the book '
plygs,' I know only too well the dangers of polygamy. It is almost never a matter of consenting adults as little girls, some as young as 12, are forced into marriage with much older men as soon as they become fertile. Women are subjected to degradation as being merely the possessions of their husbands. Young boys are taken from school and forced to work in the fields or in the church-owned businesses for no pay. They adhere to the practice of what they call 'bleeding the beast,' which is an economic fraud perpetrated against the government to receive everything from health care benefits to food stamps. The sister wives have been trained to write 'father unknown' on the birth certificates of their newborns, which greases the tracks for their eligibility for public assistance. They have stockpiles of highi-powered weapons and explosives in caches hidden throughout the Utah-Arizona community of Short Creek (Hildale Utah and Colorado City, Arizona) for use against law enforcement in the event of a major raid on the community similar to the one in 1953 when Arizona cops went in and arrested everybody in town for violating polygamy laws.
This is a dangerous, violent, perverted society run by evil pedophiles. Their leader, self-proclaimed prophet Warren Jeffs, is in a Texas prison, serving two life-plus-20-year terms for sexual abuse of a child--his 12-year-old and 14-year-old brides, one of whom he impregnated. A dozen other men were also convicted along with Jeffs.
If this was simply a matter of sexual/relationship consent among adults, much like gay marriage, I would have no qualms, but there are few polygamous communities that leave it as such.
Polygamy is not as represented by the reality show 'Sister Wives' or 'Big Love.' It is an ugly, perverted culture based on fear and greed.