Utah senate unanimously moves to decriminalize polygamy | US news | The Guardian
Sponsor says bill would help otherwise law-abiding polygamists gain access to critical services, but critics say polygamy is harmful
The Utah state senate voted unanimously on Tuesday to effectively decriminalize polygamy among consenting adults, reducing penalties for a practice with deep religious roots in the predominantly Mormon state.
The bill, which would treat the offense of plural marriage as a simple infraction on par with a parking ticket, now moves to the Utah house of representatives, where it is likely to face greater resistance.
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This is odd - Utah was only allowed to join the United States after it abolished polygamy. See
Utah's very interesting path to statehood - National Constitution Center
'Most significant was lawmakers' and others' hostility toward the church's practice of polygamy, which the Republican Party had denounced as one of the “twin relics of barbarism” along with slavery. (The church opposed slavery.)
Polygamy was forbidden by a series of federal laws. In addition, a Supreme Court decision in 1879, Reynolds v. U.S., ruled against a Mormon husband who called plural marriage his religious duty as protected by the First Amendment. Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite wrote:
“Can a man excuse his practices…because of his religious belief? To permit this would be to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land.”
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Dealing with one wife is plenty for me but having my choice of sleeping partners might be worth a try. Variety is the spice of life.
