General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The gay marriage decision has put us in uncharted waters with regard to polygamy [View all]Wella
(1,827 posts)Every single aspect of his answer can be challenged.
"if a State prohibits polygamy, it's prohibiting conduct. If it prohibits gay and lesbian citizens from getting married, it is prohibiting their exercise of a right based upon their status."
Actually, the argument against gay marriage--and against homosexual relationships in general (ie sodomy laws)--was seen as prohibiting conduct until very recently. Polygamists will argue that point. They will also argue that it was discriminatory to gays in its day and is now discriminatory against the polyamorous.
The assumption underlying your response to me is that polygamists will never be a group with "status" who have civil rights. I disagree.
A polygamist could argue that there is far more scientific evidence that humans are attracted to multiple partners than that they are born gay, and he would be correct. There is evidence throughout nature that humans and other animals are rarely monogamous. Monogamy is a limitation on sexual conduct, not necessarily its natural state. Otherwise, adultery wouldn't exist.
Proof of the hard-wiring of homosexuality, however, is not nearly as well supported in the sciences. While there have been some suggestive pilot studies, there really isn't proof of a gay gene. And, in reality, that proof was not really needed. "Born gay" was accepted without the science being present, probably because, at a deep level, heterosexuals understood that their own sexuality was hard-wired and that they couldn't choose same sex attraction if they wanted to.
But the poly-activist can go to court and say, "I am naturally polygamous/polyandrous" (and trust me, women will play a big role in this to allay the fears of women that they'll all end up in Saudi-style lives). The poly-activist will then say "Look at all this science. We are hard-wired to be polyamorous. We cannot control our attractions. It's not a choice. " There will be some who claim to be exclusively polyamorous: those arguments are out there, by the way.
I think it will actually take less work for the polygamous/polyandrous to make their case than it did for the GLBT community. They are, afterall, riding on the coattails of the work done by that community.
I give it 20 years.