Legalization of Polygamy

What is the issue?

The duality of persons in marriage is rooted in the complementarity of the two genders. Reducing marriage to a genderless institution between consenting adults begs the question of how the state can continue to discriminate against plural marriage.

"The issue was hard to discuss candidly while same-sex marriage was still pending, because both sides knew that association with plural marriage, a more unpopular cause, could have stymied progress for gay rights. . . . With same-sex marriage on the books, we can now ask whether polyamorous relationships should be next." (Richard A. Posner, NYT Op-Ed)

"If the male-female nature of marriage is utterly arbitrary, what’s so special about the number two? What is the principled reason for denying 'marriage equality' to threes and fours and more?" (Ryan Anderson, Daily Signal)

"Although the majority randomly inserts the adjective 'two' in various places, it offers no reason at all why the two-person element of the core definition of marriage may be preserved while the man-woman element may not. Indeed, from the standpoint of history and tradition, a leap from opposite-sex marriage to same-sex marriage is much greater than one from a two-person union to plural unions, which have deep roots in some cultures around the world. If the majority is willing to take the big leap, it is hard to see how it can say no to the shorter one. It is striking how much of the majority’s reasoning would apply with equal force to the claim of a fundamental right to plural marriage." (Chief Justice John Roberts, Obergefell v. Hodges dissent)

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Liberal arguments

  • Marriage between consenting adults is a fundamental right about**autonomy and fulfillment.** "By those lights, groups of adults who have profound polyamorous attachments and wish to build families and join the community have a strong claim to a right to marry." (Posner)
  • Not all polygamy is patriarchal or heterosexual. "Plural relationships could well be (and in some circles today are) between multiple people of both sexes, not all of whom are strictly heterosexual." (Posner)
  • Polygamy is unfairly stereotyped. "It was not that long ago that many people held vicious stereotypes about same-sex relationships that led them to wrongly assume that gay people were unfit for marriage. We should not make the same mistake in assuming we know what plural marriages in the future would be like." (Posner)
  • Abuses can be mitigated by normalization and regulated by legal recognition of polygamy. "But this [abuse] is all the more reason to bring polygamy out from the margins of our society. As with sex work, the horrors here have little to do with anything inherent in the practice and almost everything to do with the fact that we've made it illegal and dishonourable." (W.W., The Economist)
  • Serious monogamy is a late development. "If you think about it, actual monogamy has never been the Western norm. A monogamous ideal, sure—but men could always sleep around, hire prostitutes, and even have long-term affairs with few societal consequences... It’s only in the last hundred years or so that monogamy has been taken so seriously, starting with the first wave of feminism and the 19th-century temperance movement." (Jay Michaelson, Daily Beast; articles suggests "same-sex marriage as a liberation gateway drug", but doesn't endorse polygamy)
  • Polyamory is natural, and at least for some, a more satisfying option. "Perhaps the practice is more natural than we think: a response to the challenges of monogamous relationships, whose shortcomings—in a culture where divorce has become a commonplace—are clear. Everyone in a relationship wrestles at some point with an eternal question: can one person really satisfy every need? Polyamorists think the answer is obvious—and that it's only a matter of time before the monogamous world sees there's more than one way to live and love." (Jessica Bennett, Newsweek)

Christian response

"The duality of the complementary sexes, ordained as such by the Creator, according to Jesus is the only rational basis for eliminating absolutely sexual unions of three or more persons." - Robert Gagnon

Books

External links

Favorable or sympathetic

Critical

In the news