The Curious New Debate about Polygamy

If our government cannot define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, then it follows that we cannot have laws against same-sex marriage, and also that there can be no law against polygamy, a practice that is totally demeaning to women.

The very first Platform adopted by the Republican Party, in 1856, condemned slavery and polygamy as the "twin relics of barbarism." The Republican Party has always been a stalwart defender of traditional marriage. The 2008 Republican Platform calls for "a constitutional amendment that fully protects marriage as a union of a man and a woman, so that judges cannot make other arrangements equivalent to it." It's vitally important that the Republican Party continue to be a standard-bearer for traditional marriage.

We thought our nation had definitely settled the polygamy issue a century and a half ago, but it recently raised its ugly head. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is on record as supporting polygamy. The ACLU's feminist president, Nadine Strossen, stated in a speech at Yale University in 2005 that the ACLU defends "the right of individuals to engage in polygamy." And in 2006, in a high-profile debate against Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Nadine Strossen stated that the ACLU supports a constitutional right to polygamy.

The massive immigration that the United States has accepted in recent years includes large numbers of immigrants from Third World countries that approve of polygamy and marriage to children and to close relatives. We wonder if polygamists have been allowed to immigrate into the United States, and if they are continuing these unacceptable customs in American neighborhoods.

It is vitally important that we keep the Defense of Marriage Act, which was passed in 2006 by overwhelming majorities in Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton.

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