A federal judge on Wednesday grilled a state attorney pushing for dismissal of a lawsuit filed by reality TV show stars that could decriminalize polygamy in Utah.Prosecutors say the "Sister Wives" case should be dismissed because they won’t file bigamy charges against the polygamous Brown family, but U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups questioned whether that move was a "ruse" to duck the suit.
This sounds good.
"What about the next couple?" Waddoups said. "What’s the policy reason behind this that would give assurances that prosecutions won’t occur in the future?"
We need laws that criminalize and discriminate against consensual adult relationships overturned. They should never be around to be used selectively as tools against love.
Meanwhile, at time.com, Belinda Luscombe has coverage (some of it behind a paywall) of the Dargers and looks at the rising awareness of polygamy.Polygamy is one of the few practices that still evokes genuine disgust in people. It’s a watchword for ignorance, sexual depredation, oppression of women and weird culty outfits.To bigots and people ignorant of the wide range of polygamy and the wider range of polyamory.
The more attention, the better. More and more people are seeing that the polygamous freedom to marry, and full marriage equality for all, is a good thing, not a bad thing.
![Non-Monogamy Diagram [I:FV]](http://www.obsidianfields.com/lj/nonmonogamy2.5.1.gif){kind=link}
See also the blog of Jonathan Turley, the Brown family's attorney in the "Sister Wives" case:
ReplyDeletehttp://jonathanturley.org/2012/07/25/sister-wives-case-goes-back-to-court-today/#more-52251
Update, 8/19/12 - The court denied the motion for dismissal, so the case will proceed.
ReplyDeleteMedia coverage from the Salt Lake Tribune's Polygamy Blog here:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogspolygblog/54718979-191/case-state-browns-law.html.csp
Federal Judge's ruling that the case can proceed:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/103177874/Refusal-to-Dismiss-Sister-Wives-081712
Jonathan Turley's blog response:
http://jonathanturley.org/2012/08/17/federal-court-rules-in-favor-of-sister-wives-lawsuit-denies-second-motion-to-dismiss/
Here's a better link to the Federal Judge's ruling:
Deletehttp://jonathanturley.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/order-denying-motion-to-dismiss.pdf
Thank you, Anonymous!
Delete