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Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
You may disagree with it, but it's the sort of crap that courts accept under the rubric of rational-basis review. And it's unclear to me that severely-disabled people are less likely to work when they're married. But whatever.
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But yet it is clear to you that polygamists are less likely to work when they are married. But whatever.
Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
I take it that you think that states that permit gay civil unions must also permit polygamous civil unions. Odd that the polygamists are not pressing their advantage in those states.
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No. I said I am against civil unions of all types.
Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
There are a whole bunch of societally-conferred benefits that have nothing to do with the couple's rights inter se. If your partner is in the hospital, unconscious, and you want to see her, they will let you in if you are a spouse, but not otherwise.
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Wrong. Gays can give each other medical power of attorney. Then you get to visit the person if they are unconscious since you are the one legally authorized to make the medical decisions for the person. They can do everything by private contract that a civil union gives them.
Got any other examples?
Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
But then the bigger idea here is that the only reason to prevent gays from marrying is to keep them in a second-class status.
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No. It is to not morph a social institution that since the beginning of human civiliation was a union between one woman and one man created to promote breeding to further the survival of the species into something else so that gays can get government and employer benefits for their partners.
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Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
It's not like the marriage hurts anyone else.
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How is that different from consensual polygamy between adults?
Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
Not permitting marriage carries a stigma, like what blacks experienced after Plessy.
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The 2nd and 3rd wives of the polygamists think that is true of their status, too. They are stigmatized as not being seen by society as a true wife to the man they feel is their husband. Moreover, the polygamists say you are infringing their rights to practice their religion by prohibiting them from engaging in polygamy.
As Brigham Young taught, polygamy is required to attain godhood. Those fundamentalist mormons who don't share the mainstream LDS beliefs feel that god has commanded them to engage in polygamy in this life* and that if they are prevented from doing so, they cannot engage in eternal progression and achieve godhood (which is the equivalent of being reincarnated as a cow if you are a hindu, but I digress).
In their minds, preventing them from engaging in plural marriage is far worse then stigmatizing them; you are preventing them from achieving the penultimate in spiritual salvation.
* BTW - the official LDS church only amended their teachings that plural marriage is prohibited
in this life to get statehood for Utah. Plural marriage is not erased from mainstream LDS theology; it is just reserved for the after life.
