No, Polygamy Isn’t the Next Gay Marriage - POLITICO Magaze

Contents:

• NO, POLYGAMY ISN’T THE NEXT GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE WAS ALWAYS LEADG TO POLYGAMY
• GAY MARRIAGE AND POLYGAMY

NO, POLYGAMY ISN’T THE NEXT GAY MARRIAGE

I am a gay marriage advote. Opposg the legalizatn of plural marriage should not be my burn, bee gay marriage and polygamy are oppos, not equivalents. " If there's a bloody shirt to wave the gay-marriage bate, this is .

When you straights give yourselv the right to marry two people or your brother or your dog or a toaster, we gay people should get that right, too. Hodg that gay marriage is a fundamental right, so polygamy mt also be a fundamental right.

Unlike gay marriage, polygamy is not a new ia. Blandly assertg that there's no good reason to oppose polygamy once gay upl n marry mak no more sense than sayg there's no reason to oppose date rape or securi d once gay upl n marry.

GAY MARRIAGE WAS ALWAYS LEADG TO POLYGAMY

The trouble that gay-marriage opponents kept nng to was that they uld not surmount this very low bar, bee they uldn't expla how preventg gay upl om marryg served any of the state's claimed goals. Nor uld they show any plsible harm om gay marriage.

There might nceivably (although not likely) be a se for takg the trouble to do all that msy and nfg rewirg if the moral claim of polygamy were remotely as strong as to the moral claim of gay marriage.

Gay-marriage advot have never mand the right to marry everyone (multiple partners), or anyone (our parents), or anythg (our dog or a toaster). So, when the fundamental right at issue gay marriage is properly unrstood as the right not to be exclud om marriage, the polygamist claim is not fundamental.

GAY MARRIAGE AND POLYGAMY

The prciple on which gay marriage won social and judicial approval—the prciple that dividuals and society are better off when everyone has the opportuny to marry—at agast polygamy, not for .