Reasons to Legalize Polygamy

The reason to legalize polygamy is that an adult, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, or religion, should be free to marry any and all consenting adults. That's about as simple as it gets. There's no good reason to deny adults these rights. But listland.com claims to give the top ten reasons the US should legalize polygamy (in a way that appears to be a bit tongue-in-cheek, but contains much truth.)

It starts off well, with an explanation of polygyny and polyandry both being forms of polygamy. It gets into such reasons as parenting, endorsement by religions, and that it is legal in some countries...

Of the approximately 200 countries in the world about 50 (25%) allow polygamy to be practiced. 

Interesting.

Most Muslim countries (Tunisia and Turkey are notable exceptions with Turkey going so far as to forbid polygamists from immigrating) permit polygamy and countries such as India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia permit polygamous marriages only for their Muslim citizens.  Some countries, such as New Zealand, which otherwise outlaw polygamy, will recognize polygamous marriages if they were legal in the country in which they were contracted.  In other countries, polygamy is positively celebrated such as, for example, in Swaziland where the king has 13 wives.  Several Central Asian republics, notably Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have debated legalizing polygamy for civil unions.  The debates failed in all national parliaments but it is still seen as an important issue for securing the status of many unofficial second, third and fourth wives.

They go on to cite in-family support networks...

In a monogamous union, when one party is sick, the day to day responsibilities fall on the shoulders of a single person.  This is simply not the case in polygamous marriages where more people are earning and there are more to share the household tasks.

You can read it all here. Every relationship structure can be said to have advantages and challenges. This is why this blog advocates that people be allowed to have the relationships they mutually negotiate, which are more likely to be the ones that enable people to meet each others needs.

It is ridiculous that in just about every state in the US, three or more adults can live together and raise children together, but they can't be legally married to each other even though that it what they all want. It's a major reason to support full marriage equality.