| Because polygamy is most actively practiced among religious sects, these young girls can be easily coerced into going along with an arranged marriage by their family, church or community. Keep in mind that at age 16, the consent of both parents is all that is needed for a girl to marry. Due to their environment and upbringing, it is unlikely that they would go to the police themselves on grounds of rape as well. This is what makes the danger of statutory rape so real.
Similarly, if we legalize polygamy on religious grounds then we must also condone the nature of polygamous marriages on religious grounds as well. The danger of this is that most religious sects which actively practice polygamy also condone incestous marriage (such as that between father and daughter). The implications of this are just as obvious.
BTW tiny, you hit the nail on the head with your reasoning behind the posting of this topic. The truth of the matter is that if we legalize the federal recognition of gay marriage on the grounds of "equal representation", then we must rescind our current laws prohibiting the practices of polygamy and bigamy so that such "unions" may have their "equal representation" within the definition and legal context of marriage as well. Marriage as recognized federally is defined for a reason and this just so happens to be one of them. |