Federal Judge Opens the Door to Polygamy

Salt Lake City, UT—This summer when the Supreme Court struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, Liberty Counsel warned that the decision would lead to polygamy and religious intolerance. Homosexual activists, such as the LGBT news magazine, the Advocate, called Liberty Counsel’s warning “erroneous” and “hyperbolic.” Just six short months later, that warning has become prophetic.

On Friday, a federal judge ruled that key parts of Utah’s polygamy laws are unconstitutional, violating the free exercise of religion. Kody Brown and his four wives, on the TLC reality show Sister Wives, and other Mormons filed suit in July 2001 and then left Utah for Las Vegas. It took Utah nearly 50 years to be admitted to the Union. The reason for the delay was polygamy. The Republican Party, which advocated natural family, said in its 1856 Party Platform that polygamy was “barbaric” and a “twin” of slavery. One of the conditions to admit Utah to the Union was that it ban polygamy and that such a ban be placed in its constitution. After Utah complied, it was admitted to the Union. Several other states in which polygamy was practiced were also required to ban polygamy as a condition to being admitted to the Union.

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We have warned of this slippery slope for years,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “If marriage is deconstructed to include people of the same sex, then there is no logical or legal argument to ban polygamy or polyamory. Same-sex marriage is the abolition of marriage and will destroy the most basic foundation of family and civil society,” Staver said. “Marriage predates government and civil authorities. No legislative body or court has the authority to redefine marriage,” says Mat Staver. “Marriage was not created by religion or government and is ontologically a union of one man and one woman. Deconstructing marriage will hurt children and society,” concludes Staver.