I believe marriage between any consenting adults should be legal, in whatever form, style, type, and manner desired. And yes, that includes polygamy, bigamy, and marriage to same sex partners. And the governmental resources that have been used in the past to harass, disrupt, and mess with the various families who have entered such contracts should be used to fight real crime like molestation, rape, incest, and the sexual abuse of children.
I also believe that individual religious organizations should have the freedom to discriminate against whatever form of marriage is revolting to their morality and refuse entrance into various sacred buildings and spaces to perform said marriages.
I believe those who enter into these binding marriage contracts should recognize that the more complex the situation, the more possibility for mischief. Iowahawk wrote a hilarious post exploring and satirizing an extreme marriage situation a few years ago:
“Multicultural Paratroopers eventually persuaded Markowicz to leave his/her dog outside the mosque during the ceremony. Cordoba House officials reluctantly agreed to allow the couple inside for continued negotiations, but a brief melee ensued after Markowicz lit a marijuana cigarette in the lobby. Mohammed-Haq angrily demanded that police arrest him/her for violating New York’s anti-smoking ordinance, but Markowicz quickly produced a prescription for medical marijuana for his/her glaucoma condition. In turn, he/she demanded police arrest Mohammed-Haq for violating the National Health Care Access Act, and for failure to post braille No Smoking signs. The angry Imam was restrained by police before he could unsheathe his scimitar, and lodged a complaint against Davis and Markowicz for violating New York’s official Immigration Sanctuary Act.”
Go HERE to read the whole thing. The first time I read it I was crying I was laughing so hard.
In a recent Wall Street Journal column on the Utah Marriage debate Seth Lipsky wrote:
Seth Lipsky: Utah’s Marriage Battles and the Ghost of Brigham Young
The latest case involves the Dec. 20 decision of a U.S. district judge overturning Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage. More than 2,000 Utahans promptly plighted their troth to persons of the same sex. On Jan. 6, the Supreme Court, at the state’s request, issued a stay. Gov. Gary Herbert then announced that Utah would refrain from recognizing the same-sex marriages that were licensed, only to have Attorney General Eric Holder announce that the federal government would recognize them.
Paul and I were happy for one of my friends who jumped right in and married his gay partner of many years. We chose to be emotionally supportive to my friend Daniel simply because we understood how important it was to him and wanted to share his joy on a happy day.
At the end of the WSJ column Mr. Lipsky summed things up thusly:
“So might the Supreme Court insist that Utah bow to a federal authority and end its ban on same-sex marriage? Or might the justices insist that Utah no longer bow to a federal Congress that once required them to outlaw polygamy? No wonder they call Utah the Beehive State. One way or another, someone is going to get stung, and the whole country may feel it.”
When I was in my early 20’s I read the book Mormon Enigma and it was a really interesting take on the early church and how Emma Smith felt about Polygamy and her husbands restoration of that divine doctrine.
It helped me to understand the political climate at the time of the restoration and also how the Saints managed to survive with the hate spewing so badly that the Prophet was murdered.
I do think it is ironic that in a state where Polygamous husbands were being hounded by the feds a hundred years ago, we now have a bunch of Utah Mormons wanting to deny marriage equality to everyone who does not engage in a strict one husband/one wife definition of marriage. One of my husbands own ancestors, Benjamin Franklin Johnson (who is my son Ben’s namesake) wrote a particularly articulate defense of Polygamy back in the day.
Lord knows, the types of fake marriages depicted throughout history and spoofed in this clip from the movie The Princess Bride are nothing to brag about in terms of love, intimacy, and a happy, healthy place to welcome children. The fact that the prince planned to have his bride kidnapped and killed so he could start a war is about as pathetically revolting to the idea of a happy family life as anything going in the wonderful world of marriage.
I believe as the proclamation on the family states that children are “entitled” to both a Mother and a Father. And when a person decides to raise a child, they will one day account to Father in Heaven for the way they have treated that child. The exact quote is:
“THE FAMILY is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity.”
I am friends with a few children of homosexual parents. They are wonderful, moral people who have much to contribute. I do not know that they could have been raised any better in a Hetero family, nobody does. And I do not believe it is my place to judge any individual family situation. As I said, we are all going to stand before God some day and account for how we treated the people in our lives, especially our family.
I believe polygamy is the order of Heaven and that one of the reasons we never hear about Heavenly Mother is because Heavenly Father is probably married to billions of women scattered all over the universe and it would be unfair and discriminatory to talk about just one Mother.
I love this scene from The King and I where the wives and children of the King of Siam are being introduced to the British teacher Anna. It is a charming depiction of a large polygamous family.
I hope to be worthy some day to enter into an eternal polygamous relationship with many sister wives, who will be invited to dance through eternity with Paul and I. Jenny Hatch
To learn more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints views on Plural Marraige Click HERE.
And to read the details of WHY the church sent out the Manifesto to the members click HERE.
Most of the time when chatting with the well heeled, well coiffed, just a tad too educated and credentialed to be patriotic, smart set of mormondom I am simply given a “gentle” reminder…
Below are our commenting guidelines, just as a gentle reminder:
1. The aim of Blog Segullah is to highlight a variety of women’s perspectives within a framework of shared beliefs and values. Commenters need not be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but a general respect for religious belief is required.
2. No insults. Critiques should address the argument, not the person.
3. No excessive diversion (or creating a threadjack) from the intended subject of the author.
Comments which violate these standards may be removed at the discretion of the blog editors.
You can decide for yourselves if I was breaking any of those rules with my two comments.
Here is the conversation I had with the author of the piece.
you are welcome to question their actions- that’s a typical reaction- but what I’m asking is to see people first. From those I know and have had true conversations with- I can’t do anything but love them. Same goes with those I know that have spoken against it. I know them and I love them. They have good desires and intentions as well, but might have not seen the people as people. People first. Most everyone I’ve ever met never deliberately seeks to do harm.
I don’t ever want to cast a stone, or pick at the mote in someone else’s eye when there’s a beam most likely lodged in my own.”
I responded to Sandra with a comment that was pulled. I basically told the intellectuals of Segullah that I hated Feminism and loathed Mormon Feminists.
The reason I started my own blog is because I have continually been chased out of chat rooms whenever I begin to expose the various agendas tied to certain systems of thought control in our society. In this instance, Feminism was the issue.
I continue to struggle to find the language that will allow me to comment without getting banned or deleted, but it is obvious that I have not found that “well modulated tone”.
My sisters at Segullah are like those on the Titanic who were straightening deck chairs as the ship sunk into the ocean.
Western Civilization is imploding in front of our eyes, the enemy is at the gate, or at least in the instance of the Ordain Women crowd – at the door of the Conference Center (where Heavenly Father greeted them with Hail) and all these boobs can do is attempt to shut me out of the conversation.
That’s cool. I know my writing style is not for everyone. And if the ladies who lunch and chat up a storm on the web about how we can be better mothers while leaving the littles in the care of a sitter while they give each other Mother of the Year Awards don’t want me crashing their party, hey, it is no skin off my nose.
I have never fit in with the well mannered Mormon Mommy crowd and probably never will.
But I know what sort of a future I want for my daughters and grand daughters.
And I will continue to speak, yell, write, and expose no matter who gets offended.
Here is a little chat I had with a gal in the comment section of Joanna Brooks Blog. It further clarifies my position.
Jenny Marie Hatch
“I am wondering who is paying Joanna and Kate to organize and agitate naive young LDS Women… Click HERE.
Sara Anne to Jenny Marie Hatch
I don’t even consider myself a part of the Ordain Women movement, and I still find your thoughts in this post offensive. I also can’t believe that you could possibly fault someone for her “well timed book rollout” and public appearances when the entire right hand side of your blog is filled from top to bottom with self-promoting advertisements for your own financial endeavors and public appearances.
Jenny Marie Hatch to sara anne
Sara Anne,
Media appearances on the level that Joanna has enjoyed are never an accident. They ALWAYS further someones agenda. The elites reserve a unique level of hate for the happy and contented Home Maker, because she stands at the crossroads of all of their agendas and plans for the collapse of the American Family.
I have no problem with anyone promoting, selling, or writing books on any topic. The common themes for all of my work is “Mother, get your butt back in the Kitchen”, so Joanna and her feminist friends are my ideological foes.
I have a deep understanding of psychological media campaigns designed to breed discontent in certain populations. And I am just cynical enough to believe that the contented mormon homemaker would be high on Madison Avenues list to target.
LDS Men are the kindest, most well behaved, gentle souls on Planet Earth. And the sisters of the church would do well to get on their knees every night to thank God for the blessing of having them in their lives.”
Go read all of the comments on the blog, it will provide quite a cross section of thoughts on this topic.
I believe marriage between any consenting adults should be legal, in whatever form, style, type, and manner desired. And yes, that includes polygamy, bigamy, and marriage to same sex partners. And the governmental resources that have been used in the past to harass, disrupt, and mess with the various families who have entered such contracts should be used to fight real crime like molestation, rape, incest, and the sexual abuse of children.
