Republican state legislators in Utah just took a major, controversial step toward decriminalizing polygamy. In an odd display of mental gymnastics, the reaction of some socially conservative commentators has been to blame gay marriage activists.
First, the facts.
On. Feb. 18, the Utah Senate voted unanimously to decriminalize polygamy. The bill, which still must pass the state House and be signed into law by the governor, does not mean Utah will start recognizing marriages between multiple people or the practice of having multiple wives. It doesn’t even make polygamy legal. The law would simply remove the draconian penalty of up to five years in prison that is currently imposed on violators, a harsher sentence than some accused rapists receive. The bill instead makes the punishment for polygamy a $750 fine or community service. The intention here, and the reason it received unanimous support, is that criminal penalties are thought to deter people from coming forward to report abusive polygamous arrangements.
For some reason, this common-sense change led to hysteria in some socially conservative circles.
Writing for the Federalist, Stacy Manning and Katy Faust sounded the alarm bell over this development in a piece headlined “Push to legalize polygamy uses same arguments as push for same-sex marriage.” But they didn’t just express grave concern that Utah will no longer lock people up for a half-decade over a nonviolent offense — they decided to blame the gays.
“The pro-gay and pro-poly scripts are one and the same because both view marriage as adult-centric,” the pair wrote. “That’s because when marriage is simply a vehicle for adult fulfillment, as per the Obergefell ruling [legalizing gay marriage nationwide], marriage morphs into whatever assemblage makes adults happy.”
They wrote that “both same-sex marriage and polygamy infringe on the rights of children” and concluded that “while a free society should permit adults to form consensual relationships, a just society promotes the only adult relationship that protects children’s rights.” (How does Utah’s bill “promote” polygamy if it’s still illegal?)
Also writing for the Federalist, Dave Marcus argues that “gay marriage was always leading to polygamy,” also indirectly blaming gay rights activism for the recent actions of socially conservative Utah Republicans. He writes:
These critical sentiments were echoed online by other social conservatives:
If only there had been some of us sounding the alarm on the slippery slope…
Oh wait. https://t.co/aJnxsoVkWv
— Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) February 19, 2020
As I’ve often said, once the culture supported Gay “Marriage,” this will open to door to where ultimately anything goes. Now it’s true that some people in the Bible committed polygamy, but the negative consequences are clearly shown to us. And we know…https://t.co/GBpnjbir2k
— Ken Ham (@aigkenham) February 18, 2020
To start, it’s worth pointing out the misleading nature of these arguments. Both Federalist articles use variations of the phrase “legalize polygamy,” but that is not what has happened here. Not even close.
Polygamy is still illegal in all 50 states, including Utah. The bill in Utah, which has not even become law yet, simply takes jail time out of the punishment equation, yet it leaves polygamy illegal. This means that Marcus’s sentence that “for all intents and purposes, polygamy is now legal in the United States,” is, charitably, an alarmist sentiment not supported by the facts. (I assume it was meant as a tongue-in-cheek claim rather than an outright factual assertion.)
I truly don’t see what these social conservatives are mad about. The “push to legalize polygamy” is mostly a figment of their imagination. While yes, some on the woke Left are indeed in the process of attempting to normalize multi-partner romantic relationships, aka “polyamory,” this hasn’t really yet entered the realm of marriage in any meaningful way.
There’s simply no mainstream effort underway to expand the legal definition of marriage to include multiple people. According to 2017 Gallup data, more than 80% of people still oppose polygamy. This just isn’t something that’s happening, at least, not any time soon.
But most objectionable is the way conservative critics are blaming “the gay marriage lobby” for this polygamy decriminalization effort. This makes zero sense. The bill in question, whatever its merits, is being passed by socially conservative Republican state legislators in one of the reddest states in the country. This legislative push isn’t coming at the behest of the liberal gay rights groups — it was introduced by a Republican sponsor.
Social conservatives should take accountability for their own side’s actions, not scapegoat gay marriage for the legislative efforts of the Religious Right.
