Sister Wives Initiate Lawsuit
 

Is this the "slippery slope" or just another weird story?

The family made famous by the TLC show Sister Wives is expected to file a lawsuit on Wednesday challenging Utah’s anti-bigamy law, which makes it a third-degree felony to marry or cohabit with someone other than one’s legal spouse. An attorney for the family said they’re not asking Utah to recognize polygamous marriage; they just want to be left alone.

http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/...anti_biga.html

So that begs the question: how can one demand to be left alone if you are on a "reality" show?

I agree that they are announcing their lifestyle and can be interpreted as presenting legal (and moral) challenges. I can't remember whom but I believe they aren't the first people whose appearance in a reality show has potentially legally bitten them in the ass.

Is he legally married to all of the women?

I think they've had some run-ins with the police because of the show which brought on the suit. Utah is the only state, I think, whose bigamy law is like this. Most others just cover "legal" marriage. But they mentioned on the show that they have to be ultra super careful about dr. visits for all of the wives except the first while they're pregnant because he could be arrested in the hospital for bigamy with the way the current law is.

No, only the first. The others are "spiritually" married to them.

I think Kody Brown is a Grade A douchecanoe but I think their suit might have merit. If they're not legally married to one another, what's the difference if they live together or not? As it's written, some could take the Utah law as meaning that married adults can't have a roommate.

Probably not - the key is the (legal) definition of "cohabitation," which goes like this:

That's not to say the law is rock-solid, and will (or should) stand up to legal challenge, but it takes a bit more ... specific situation to get there.

Good to know.

So that law doesn't apply to roommates unless the roommates are having a sex fest during an extended living arrangement.

Extended...ha...get it?

I too think Kody Brown is an asshat. I stopped keeping up with the show and one of the reasons is that he annoys me.

Well, they need to be living in "marriage-like" circumstances, so apparently they need to argue in a very cliched manner as described by bad stand-up comics everywhere. She should have lots of shoes, and he should be lazy and never help with the housework. And so on.

That would be difficult to prove legally, correct? :)

I believe jurors would be instructed to apply a specific test in this situation, under the Court's ruling in the fabled "White People Drive Like This, Black People Drive Like THIS" Case.

Cars ride by with the boomin' system.

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...xOo0kyjSeV4Rre

I think it's an interesting case on a lot of levels. Lawrence v. Texas kind of opened the way for this lawsuit when it held that under the 14th Amendment, morality alone couldn't justify the government's intrusion into the bedroom.

The ACLU has an interesting article on the subject for background purposes:
http://www.acluutah.org/bigamystatute.htm

At any rate, on an equal protection level (I don't know if this is discussed here), I can't really see how such a prohibition on polygamy in the cohabitative sense, could even be found to have a rational basis. How is it that it would be perfectly legal for married people to engage in orgies with other married people just so long as no one cohabitates... but if cohabitation happens, it's a third-degree felony?

I'm not one to stand in the way of encouraging swinging, but I'm having a hard time figuring out why the taxpayers of Utah would GAS whether polygamy was happening in their neighborhood.

Not if he's fathering children with more than one of the woman he lives with.

If he fathers plenty of children with women he does not live with, that is completely fine. Makes no sense. Let them live in peace as long as the children are taken care of and not abused, and the women entered the relationship of their own free will (and can leave should they choose) its not/shouldn't be a problem.

A majority of taxpayers in Utah are LDS. LDS Church members face a lot of discrimination/get a lot of flack because people think they encourage polygamy, or associate them with FLDS/Warren Jeffs. This is why Utah has such stringent polygamy laws, and why the LDS church excommunicates you if you are found practicing it. They are tired of being associated with it/publicly condemn it out of frustration with the public's confusion/perception

If LDS is worried about public perception of their church, polygamy is kind of down on the list of concerns they ought to have. And that said, I have a problem with a state passing criminal statutes to protect the reputation of a religious institution.

People should just hush up already. This is how they choose to live their lives, and as far as I've seen on the show (though of course I don't know them personally) they are not horrible crazy people.

That said, they did choose to be apart of the show and had to have known that it would cause some drama. But, as I'm guessing was the purpose of the show, I have learned a lot about their lifestyle. Far be it from me to judge them.

Then again, I thought they moved to Vegas, so who cares about Utah anymore?

Well, in most states according to the law, since he's only married to one woman, he's not a true "bigamist", correct?

How many children are born out of traditional wedlock in this country today? Among some cultural subgroups, up to 70%. Are the parents of these children in jail because they're not married? Not that I'm aware of.

I think that these women are a few bricks shy of a load because of their choices, but they seem to take good care of their children and the family as it is currently made up.

I think Cody or Kody or whatever his name is thinks he's the cock of the walk. He is the cock of the walk in his house, but not so much everywhere else.

Where did he work, and what did he do to support his harem and offspring? Whatever it was, he got there and back in a two seater sport car that made HIM look "good". I have read extensively that many of these rogue polygamists work the system to get welfare and food stamps. If that is the case with this bunch, then I say hang em high.

I was surprised about that too, but they said they did the show so their kids (if they choose to live polygamy) and others do not have to live in fear/shame. I'm assuming this lawsuit is along those same lines.

I completely agree with you, but that's Utah. The state was created for and by Mormons and still operates that way. Draconian liquor laws, the polygamy witch hunt, etc.

I think important here is they're not arguing for legalization of polygamy in the sense of state recognition, they're arguing for decriminalization of polygamy as long as it doesn't involve legal bigamy or having two marriage licenses.
Like my relationship(s) should I move in. Thankfully they're not in Utah. But polyamorists in Canada have been watching BC's (I think) attorney general NOT prosecute polygamists for bigamy and have/were going to file a request with the courts to clarify whether polygamy was being decriminalized there. It would ease a lot of poly people's minds if they knew they wouldn't get charged by a zealous state's attorney afterall. (Hell in Virginia, where one of the bf's is, there's still an adultery law, that someone actually pled guilty to in '03 or so.)
Considering what people who live in Utah report, many taxpayers HAVE polygamy happening in their neighborhood. It's just that it's "Sister Wives/Big Love" style and not Warren Jeffs style, typically.

does this law in Utah also apply to two people who are separated but not divorced from their legal partners and live together?

Lawyer could be more specific, but I'd guess yes it COULD be applied, but probably wouldn't.

^ made me think of this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJYn3BoZkcQ

I guess I'll just take another step beyond Kevin's point ... historically, the two main legal reasons for outlawing polygamy have been:

1 - The high incidence of multiple marriages and marrying extremely young women, along with the attendant pressures to marry; and

2 - The difficulty of creating a legal accord between more than two people in the same sense of marriage.

Additionally:

-The Christian definition of "marriage" as one man and one woman.

So considering that we have considerably more resources to protect children, and we are in a position to open legal definitions of marriage across the board ... is it time to rethink polygamy?

I think #2 might be a problem, still. And obviously the FLDS proves time and again that they have a problem with #1.

I respect that the legal issues might be beyond complex to work out, but I'd rather appreciate being able to be somehow legally recognized as having a stake in my relationships. That said, simply the decriminalization of both adultery and polygamy would be fine. They rarely are able to arrest FLDS polygamists for polygamy anyway, but instead for welfare fraud or child abuse.

Both of those are still illegal, child abuse in particular. Since manipulation and abuse occur in monogamous and heterosexual relationships it's hard to lay the blame at the feet of polygamy even if that is its historical existence in the US.

I'm not pro religious fundies, but the antipolygamy law was primarily an anti-LDS law. As much as they're on my shitlist and I think their religioun is, um, out there, that's not a really good reason to target them. Child abuse is though, and that should be prosecuted.

So, I'm going waaaaaaaaaaay out on a limb here and I've only seen the show a handful of times.

If memory serves me correctly each wife has her own wing in the house where she lives with her children, correct?

Whose to say, that the sexual encounters with the "spiritual" relationships aren't casual? He never spends two consecutive nights with one woman, right? Commitment implies consecutive nights in the same bed.

Yes, however they had to move to Las Vegas because they were living in fear of Utah's investigation/being arrested/the family being split up. Now they live in four separate houses in the same neighborhood.

No I don't think commitment implies consecutive nights in the same bed. That pretty much is pulled out of no where.

And the fact that he specifically said he's spiritually married to the other women on national TV puts lie to any argument to the contrary.

I know. I was just.....trying to think of an argument.

Thing is, they're tired of trying to find arguments. And I kind of get that. They don't want to be found not guilty, they want the charges dropped and never brought on anyone else again. (to use a metaphor since AFAIK no charges.)

Someone sporting me my own wing is waaaaaay more of a commitment than "consecutive nights in the same bed." Sometimes, all CNITSB means is...two horny people with each other's phone number.

The Story of Joseph Smith (South Park)

Magic Underwear

Realistically not a lot more crazy then a guy getting hung on a cross and coming back to life because he was really the son of God but he was ALSO God. ALSO.