Sen. Lindsey Graham To AG Nominee Loretta Lynch: What's The Difference Between Gay Marriage And Polygamy?

Via Mediaite:

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) got down to the nitty-gritty in the Senate Judiciary confirmation hearings for Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch, asking Eric Holder’s potential replacement to explicate the constitutional difference between gay marriage and polygamy. “What’s the legal difference between a ban on same-sex marriage being unconstitutional but a ban on polygamy being constitutional? Could you try to articulate how one could be banned under the constitution and the other not?” “Well, senator, I have not been involved in the argument or analysis of the cases that have gone before the Supreme Court,” Lynch replied. “And I’m not comfortable undertaking legal analysis without having had the ability to undertake a review of the relevant facts and the precedent there. So I certainly would not be able to provide you with that analysis at this point in time, but I look forward to continuing the discussions with you.”

The marriage bit is in the final minute of the clip below, but you might be interested in all of Graham's questioning.

Mormon Church Confesses: Yes, Joseph Smith Married As Many As 40 Women

The Mormon Church has finally formally acknowledged that its founder Joseph Smith married as many as 40 women, one of whom was only 14 years old at the time.

Elder Steven E. Snow, the church historian and a member of its senior leadership, said in an interview, “There is so much out there on the Internet that we felt we owed our members a safe place where they could go to get reliable, faith-promoting information that was true about some of these more difficult aspects of our history. “We need to be truthful, and we need to understand our history,” Elder Snow said. “I believe our history is full of stories of faith and devotion and sacrifice, but these people weren’t perfect.” The essay on “plural marriage” in the early days of the Mormon movement in Ohio and Illinois says polygamy was commanded by God, revealed to Smith and accepted by him and his followers only very reluctantly. Abraham and other Old Testament patriarchs had multiple wives, and Smith preached that his church was the “restoration” of the early, true Christian church. Most of Smith’s wives were between the ages of 20 and 40, the essay says, but he married Helen Mar Kimball, a daughter of two close friends, “several months before her 15th birthday.” A footnote says that according to “careful estimates,” Smith had 30 to 40 wives. The biggest bombshell for some in the essays is that Smith married women who were already married, some to men who were Smith’s friends and followers.

The revelation notes that Smith probably didn't have sex with all his wives as some of them were merely "sealed" into being his eternal wife in the next life. And on the next planet.

MONTANA: AG Tim Fox Fights On

Montana Attorney General Tim Fox is continuing to defend his state's ban on same-sex marriage with a response brief that compares gay nuptials to incest and polygamy. The brief also makes the usual blah-blah procreation argument, but primarily focuses on the level of scrutiny issue. Dig into the full brief at Equality Case Files.

80 Utah Legislators Tell SCOTUS: Gay Marriage Will Lead To Incestuous Marriage

Eighty Utah state legislators have filed an amicus brief in which they warn the Supreme Court that upholding the Tenth Circuit's ruling on same-sex marriage will lead to the legalization of polygamous and incestuous marriages.

The Tenth Circuit did not adequately consider the consequences of its decision for Utah’s prohibitions of polygamous and incestuous marriages. If the choice of marriage partners is an unlimited fundamental right, Kitchen, 755, F.3d at 1215, and if that marriage choice cannot be denied even when a majority believes that choice to be “immoral,” 755 F.3d at 1217 (quoting Lawrence v. Texas, 593 U.S. 558, 571 (2003)), then the fundamental rights analysis applied by the Tenth Circuit will apply with even greater force to consenting adults desiring polygamous marriage or marriage between at least some close relatives. The prohibition of those marriages has always been grounded in morality. Without a moral justification, courts will be obliged to remove existing marriage prohibitions as the U.S. District Court did last month in Utah. See Brown v. Herbert, 2014 WL 4249865 (D.Utah Aug. 27, 2014. Accordingly, this Court should grant certiorari and reverse the Tenth Circuit’s judgment below.

The brief is signed by 22 of the 29 members of the state Senate and by 58 of the 75 members of the state House.

UTAH: Federal Judge Re-Strikes Down Portion Of State's Ban On Polygamy

Last December the same judge first ruled in favor of the cast of the TLC reality show Sister Wives, who sued the state over the portion of the law that criminalizes polygamy-style "religious cohabitation." He later rescinded that ruling only to reinstate it today. Today's decision is here.

RELATED: Last year anti-gay groups went ballistic on their told-you-so slippery slope crazy train, fueled in no small part by the citing of Lawrence v Texas by the attorney for the plaintiffs.

One Million Moms Vs TLC

From the economic terrorists at One Million Moms:

Joe, TLC obviously enjoys promoting immoral reality shows with unethical lifestyles! The new reality show, "My Five Wives," promotes another polygamist family airing on Sunday evenings at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT) and 9:00 p.m. CT on TLC. The family in the show consists of one husband, five wives and their combined twenty-four children. Not only is their unconventional family structure absurd and confusing, but their living arrangements are as well. These five women are constantly discussing how difficult sharing a husband is and have to stick to a schedule on who gets the husband on which night to keep jealousy to a minimum, especially concerning time spent together. This is their solution on how to function without chaos.

TLC implies that the loving, tight-knit family has established a cohesive, loving unit. In other words, everything is fine and dandy, and nothing is morally wrong with their lifestyle choice. Instead of TLC airing programs that are enlightening and encouraging- after all they are The Learning Channel- they have decided to stoop so low as to show this controversial content, again. TLC doesn't seem to mind that this lifestyle is illegal, nor that it is ethically wrong. Please send an email letter to the sponsors of this week's "My Five Wives" asking that they pull their support immediately from a program that degrades family and marriage. This week's national sponsors were: Subway, Realtor.com, Arm & Hammer (Church & Dwight Co.), Evolution of Smooth (eos), Capri Sun (Kraft Foods) and Cracker Barrel Cheese.

Headline Of The Day

Despite the tabloid headline, this trio isn't legally married. But try telling that to the screamers out in Teabagistan today. Details.

KENYA: Parliament Approves Polygamy

Kenya's Parliament has approval a bill that makes it legal for men for take multiple wives without getting the approval of their first wife. Female legislators are furious.

Female MPs in Kenya have stormed out of a late-night parliamentary session in a row over the legalisation of polygamy. The law is intended to bring civil law, where a man is only allowed one wife, into line with customary law, where some cultures allow multiple partners. But male MPs voted to amend the new marriage bill to allow men to take as many wives as they like without consulting existing spouses. Traditionally, first wives are supposed to give prior approval. Correspondents say about 30 of Kenya's 69 female MPs were in the 349-member chamber for the debate but were outnumbered by their male counterparts. The women walked out in disgust over the matter.

The bill must be signed by the president to become law.

Brian Brown Has The Polygamy Sadz

"There's no doubt that the arguments for same-sex marriage were a template for this case. Once marriage is determined to be primarily about providing government recognition and benefits for loving, committed relationships, there is simply no principled way not to extend 'marriage' to everyone, no matter the nature of their relationship. People in polygamist, plural marriages are just a short step away now from winning official marriage rights. Adult incest practitioners will have similar claims, as will adult siblings and other close relations. Lost in this disastrous push to transform marriage into the satisfaction of adult sexual desires are the interests of children, and their right to the love of one mother and one father." - Hate group leader Brian Brown, comparing the ruling in Utah to the "several states that have redefined marriage." Because sixteen is several.

CNN Hosts Hate Group Leader Tony Perkins For Polygamy Discussion

Carlos Maza writes for Equality Matters:

CNN allowed hate group leader Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (FRC), to baselessly accuse marriage equality of creating a slippery slope to polygamy after asking him whether the growing acceptance of homosexuality was to blame for the decriminalization of polygamous relationships in Utah. Once again, Perkins took CNN's bait, reveling in the opportunity to blame marriage equality for a decision that did not once mention same-sex marriage. CNN failed to inform its viewers about Perkins status as a hate group leader, his history of anti-LGBT extremism, or that his organization has a track record of being stunningly, embarrassingly wrong about predicting the consequences of LGBT equality. Instead, the network found it easier to let a hate group wax poetic about how the Supreme Court really made a mistake when it stopped letting states throw people in jail just for being gay.

Tony Perkins: Legalizing Homosexuality Has Led To Legalizing Polygamy

"Recognizing that their destinies are very much intertwined, polygamists are using the same playbook as their same-sex 'marriage' counterparts: Step one: overturn the law. Step two: demand recognition. Step three: force acceptance. Ten years ago, Justice Antonin Scalia predicted exactly that in Lawrence v. Texas, the Supreme Court decision rolling back sodomy statutes. With prophetic insight, he pointed to the threat to state laws 'based on moral choices' against 'bigamy, same-sex marriage, adult incest, prostitution... adultery, fornication, bestiality, and obscenity.' Anyone being intellectually honest knew this was where liberals were pushing America. Of course, the media for years laughed off groups like FRC who warned that the Left's goal isn't same-sex "marriage" but any kind of marriage." - Hate group leader Tony Perkins, via an email which complains the media is ignoring the Utah ruling because they're afraid of the gays.

Today's Lie From Breitbart

In fact, nowhere in the judge's 91-page ruling do the words "same-sex marriage" appear.  What the judge DID cite is Lawrence V Texas, which overturned statewide bans on sodomy by declaring that all consenting adult Americans have a right to sexual privacy in their own homes. But the pesky truth is unimportant over at Breitbart, not even to "senior legal analyst" Ken Klukowski. And guess what Klukowski's day job is? Funny how they never mention that at Breitbart, huh?

Tony Perkins On Utah's Polygamy Ruling

"This decision is a real war on women and children as polygamy is a practice that has historically devalued the role of women and undermined the equality of a husband and wife that has become the standard in Western Civilization. The increasing awareness of the collateral cultural and religious carnage that accompanies the redefinition of natural marriage will cause the debate over same-sex marriage to intensify, not abate, despite the media's relative silence and homosexual activists increasing campaign of intimidation. The multiple bouquets that may be thrown as this decision was handed down, may very well give the American people the inspiration to push back against those redefining natural marriage and with it the very underpinnings of America as it has been known." - Hate group leader Tony Perkins, who is very upset that Utah has become the 50th state to legalize unmarried cohabitation.

Tweet Of The Day - Frothy Mix

Frothy totally predicted that gay marriage would lead to Utah becoming the 50th state to legalize unmarried cohabitation.

As Predicted

UTAH: Federal Judge Strikes Down Portions Of State's Ban On Polygamy

In a move that will cause much told-you-so-ing from the anti-gay slippery slopers, today a federal judge struck down portions of Utah's ban on polygamy. The case was brought by the Brown family of TLC's Sister Wives reality show fame.

In a 90-page opinion, United States District Court Judge Clark Waddups found key parts of the law to be unconstitutional, specifically the language that criminalized cohabitation. According to Attorney Jonathan Turley, the Brown family and their counsel have spent several years fighting the law, both in a criminal case and in their challenge to the law. “With this decision, families like the Brown can now be both plural and legal in the state of Utah,” Turley said in a post on his website.

In a post tonight on his personal website, the attorney for the Browns cites the landmark sodomy ruling in Lawrence V Texas, which should give anti-gay groups ammunition for the next couple of years.

My final thanks is to the Brown family which has endured years to threats and investigation to bring this day about. They have secured for plural families the equivalent of Brown v. Board of Education in breaking through centuries of prejudice. They have also guaranteed that the promise of privacy recognized for same-sex couples in Lawrence v. Texas will also be extended to plural relationships. In recognition of the importance of this civil liberties case (and contrary to the statements of state officials), the Brown have made little reference to the case on their TLC show so not to distract attention from the merits of the case. They have earned this historic victory and both my respect and gratitude.

(Tipped by JMG reader Eric)

Gay Boy Scouts Will Bring Polygamy

Sister Wives Sue Utah, Claiming Law Against Polygamy Is Unconstitutional

The cast of the Sister Wives reality show has filed a federal lawsuit against Utah, claiming that the state's ban on polygamy is unconstitutional.

The case could potentially decriminalize a way of life for tens of thousands of self-described Mormon fundamentalists, most of whom live in Utah where bigamy is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison. The state, meanwhile, has publicly said it won’t prosecute consenting adult polygamists unless there are other crimes involved, but insists the law doesn’t overreach. “It is not protected under religious freedom because states have the right to regulate marriage,” said Paul Murphy, spokesman for Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.

You know where this is going for us.

3000 Years Of Recorded History

Frothy Mix Gets Snippy With Student, Compares Gay Marriage To Polygamy

(Via - Igor Volsky)