Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Next it's polygamy
The Civil Union Bill is not even passed in New Zealand, but already we have a strong indication of what it’s going to lead to. In a major article at USA Today, a well-known American scholar, Jonathan Turley, presents a forceful case for the legalisation of polygamy.
Turley, Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington Law School, is one of America's foremost constitutional specialists, whose face became familiar to most Americans through media coverage of the Clinton sex scandals and the former president's impeachment trial.
As Turley sees it, laws against polygamy run counter to the logic of the US constitution and lack credibility in today's context of sexual revolution. “Individuals have a recognized constitutional right to engage in any form of consensual sexual relationship with any number of partners," Turley argues. "Thus, a person can live with multiple partners and even sire children from different partners so long as they do not marry. However, when that same person accepts a legal commitment for those partners 'as a spouse,' we jail them."
As Albert Mohler comments, the professor's logic makes sense -- if we accept his premise that citizens have "a recognized constitutional right" to engage in any form of consensual sex with any number of partners, without respect to gender. As he sees it, criminalizing polygamy is nothing more than a form of national hypocrisy. Since no existing laws criminalize the sexual behaviour, the criminalization is directed only at those who would solemnize their sexual relationships by claiming the institution of marriage. As Turley and polygamists see it, "it is simply a matter of unequal treatment under the law."
The Civil Union Bill is not even passed in New Zealand, but already we have a strong indication of what it’s going to lead to. In a major article at USA Today, a well-known American scholar, Jonathan Turley, presents a forceful case for the legalisation of polygamy.
Turley, Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington Law School, is one of America's foremost constitutional specialists, whose face became familiar to most Americans through media coverage of the Clinton sex scandals and the former president's impeachment trial.
As Turley sees it, laws against polygamy run counter to the logic of the US constitution and lack credibility in today's context of sexual revolution. “Individuals have a recognized constitutional right to engage in any form of consensual sexual relationship with any number of partners," Turley argues. "Thus, a person can live with multiple partners and even sire children from different partners so long as they do not marry. However, when that same person accepts a legal commitment for those partners 'as a spouse,' we jail them."
As Albert Mohler comments, the professor's logic makes sense -- if we accept his premise that citizens have "a recognized constitutional right" to engage in any form of consensual sex with any number of partners, without respect to gender. As he sees it, criminalizing polygamy is nothing more than a form of national hypocrisy. Since no existing laws criminalize the sexual behaviour, the criminalization is directed only at those who would solemnize their sexual relationships by claiming the institution of marriage. As Turley and polygamists see it, "it is simply a matter of unequal treatment under the law."
