I recently came across this article by Jillian Keenan in Slate Magazine, entitled Legalize Polygamy: Marriage Equality for All. At first I thought that this was a piece of satire. As I read on, however, I realized that it was not. And Keenan is not alone in pushing for the unsettling idea of “marriage equality for all.” Her conclusion is actually quite consistent if—as she and many others today claim—the definition of marriage is “plastic.” It simply gives us a glimpse of where this is all headed.
“Social conservatives have been making the prediction for years. Gay marriage is a slippery slope! A gateway drug! If we legalize it, then what’s next? Legalized polygamy? We can only hope.”
“While the Supreme Court and the rest of us are all focused on the human right of marriage equality, let’s not forget that the fight doesn’t end with same-sex marriage. We need to legalize polygamy, too.”
“Divorce, remarriage, surrogate parents, extended relatives, and other diverse family arrangements mean families already come in all sizes—why not recognize that legally?”
“As women, we really can make our own choices. We just might choose things people don’t like. If a woman wants to marry a man, that’s great. If she wants to marry another woman, that’s great too. . . . And if she wants to marry a man with three other wives, that’s her d*** choice.”
“Arguments about whether a woman’s consensual sexual and romantic choices are ‘healthy’ should have no bearing on the legal process.”
“The definition of marriage is plastic. Just like heterosexual marriage is no better or worse than homosexual marriage, marriage between two consenting adults is not inherently more or less ‘correct’ than marriage among three (or four, or six) consenting adults.”
