Letters in NYT Against Freedom to Marry

The New York Times has printed several letters in response to Jonathan Turley’s opinion. As always, typical Discredited Arguments are used.

SETH BULLARD, Lexington, Va…

Polygamous marriages always demean women and set a terrible example for children.

How do they do that? Bullard doesn’t say. We are just suppose to take his word for it.

That fact is so widely acknowledged that it has become part of our social contract, and Americans should have no qualms about removing children from polygamous households in the same way that we have no qualms about removing children from homes where the parents are heroin junkies.

So having more than two adults in the home is like being strung out on heroin? Anyone else see the irrational fear here? It is insulting how some people demean the loving relationships of others, and other families.

DAVID C. HOLZMAN, Lexington, Mass…

And in a polygamous community of southern Utah, teenage boys were frequently banished on various pretexts, in a phenomenon that is undoubtedly partly driven by the mathematics of polygamy, according to a 2007 Times article.

It’s a good thing that teenaged boys, especially gay ones, are never banished from “monogamous” homes! (Can you tell I’m being sarcastic?) What about the vast majority of poly homes that don’t banish anyone, except for toxic bigots? And how about prosecuting child neglect/abandonment, instead of banning this freedom to marry?

CAROL KRAINES, Deerfield, Ill…

Polygamy amounts to female child abuse. Girls are “given” to men at a young age, generally with minimal education. The husbands don’t believe in family planning, of course, so the girls become pregnant early and often. The husband makes the decisions about the number of wives in the household, and about every other aspect of their lives.

What about the vast majority of poly homes that don’t function that way?

These objections are flimsy. The overwhelming number of abused and neglected children have parents who are professing monogamists; the overwhelming number of abused spouses are in monogamous marriages. Simply allowing consenting adults the marriages they want does not harm anyone. Those who want monogamous marriages should have them. Those who want some other marriage should have them.