It's Not OK when it's in a 3-Way: Ban on Polygamy Upheld

[Mike F]

BC Supreme Court decision handed down today:

Story:

Polygamy remains a crime in Canada, B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Bauman ruled Wednesday. In his ruling, Bauman said the law violates the religious freedom of fundamentalist Mormons, but the harm against women and children outweighs that concern.

I'd expect an appeal to BC Court of Appeal, and likely the Supreme Court of Canada

[anyonebutedmonton]

This case will end up in the SCC, no question.

[Flashpoint]

I'll be honest, I am a big supporter of gay marriage under the principle that adults who love each other should be able to form families of whatever gender combinations they like. On it's face the principle of polygamy doesn't offend that notion.

Obviously there are many cases of abusive polygamous relationships (one old dude with a bunch of tween wives who had no choice in the matter). But there are a lot of abusive 2 person relationships as well - you can't judge the entire concept on the basis of the bad apples.

If three (lets say Canadian) adults wanted to form a family, and they were of sound mind, loved each other genuinely and equally - what is the problem?

[rubecube]

If they can prove the harm to women and children (which is pretty evident in most of these situations) then I don't see how the SCC will overturn it.

[CaptainCrunch]

Bummer, it should be ok to collect wives like they're action figures.

I call this one super Cook

And this one wonder clean

And this one sex bot 5000

[Komskies]

Whats an polygamy?

[HPLovecraft]

What about polyandry?

[Ozy_Flame]

The American Dad episode where Stan moved to Saudi Arabia was awesome. He had Francine as his American wife and "Thundercat" as his Saudi wife. Things didn't go to well in that 3-way relationship lol . . .

[Mike F]

Originally Posted by Komskies

Whats an polygamy?

Not sure if you're referring to a mistake by me or someone else, but people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Unless by "whats" you mean a whole bunch of what

Edit:

Originally Posted by TheyCallMeBruce

Let us never forget flame3132

Looks like I might have just missed something...

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Originally Posted by Komskies

Whats an polygamy?

Let us never forget flame3132

[IliketoPuck]

First you get the money, then you get the power, then you only get one woman. Sorry, thems the breaks.

Signed,

Robert Bauman

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by Mike F

Not sure if you're referring to a mistake by me or someone else, but people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Unless by "whats" you mean a whole bunch of what

Edit:

Looks like I might have just missed something...

I missed the original thread, but I knew the quote from TheyCallMeBruce's signature.

[REDVAN]

When can we marry goats and sheep?

That's when I'll get really excited.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by REDVAN

When can we marry goats and sheep?

That's when I'll get really excited.

This is an important first step. I mean, who wants to marry just one goat?

[VladtheImpaler]

This is silly. Marry whoever the fata you want in whatever the fataing numbers you want. If everyone agrees, I fail to see an issue. If you can show the goat is happy, marry the goat. The "women and children" argument is BS. If that were valid, you can make the same argument to outlaw fundamentalist Muslim marriages or trailer park marriages.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

This is silly. Marry whoever the fata you want in whatever the fataing numbers you want. If everyone agrees, I fail to see an issue. If you can show the goat is happy, marry the goat. The "women and children" argument is BS. If that were valid, you can make the same argument to outlaw fundamentalist Muslim marriages or trailer park marriages.

You have to look at the way polygamy would change society. In Saudi Arabia, where polygamy is legal, you have rich men collecting wives. This leaves a lot of poor and angry you men around to cause trouble.

Polygamy sounds alright on the surface, but if everyone was doing it, the numbers just wouldn't add up. The reverse scenario (many dudes, one lady) would be much rarer than the more familiar many ladies one due.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Flashpoint

I'll be honest, I am a big supporter of gay marriage under the principle that adults who love each other should be able to form families of whatever gender combinations they like. On it's face the principle of polygamy doesn't offend that notion.

Obviously there are many cases of abusive polygamous relationships (one old dude with a bunch of tween wives who had no choice in the matter). But there are a lot of abusive 2 person relationships as well - you can't judge the entire concept on the basis of the bad apples.

If three (lets say Canadian) adults wanted to form a family, and they were of sound mind, loved each other genuinely and equally - what is the problem?

No man that wants 2 wives is of sound mind.

'we don't love you anymore, so I'm taking half your crap and she's taking the other half'

[Slava]

I don't think that people recognize the train wreck this would cause from a legal point of view. Frankly not many (if any) people would care that a guy has two wives. If they're all consenting adults then from a pure relationship standpoint its fine. Most guys would simply say "it's your problem."

The issue for the "system" to deal with though is a whole other enormous problem. Can you split income 3 ways, or more? At what point do you draw the line in that case? How many people do you allow to claim the various spousal benefits our society tends to allow? Can I take advantage of a spousal rollover of assets ad infinitum because there is always another spouse in line?

Its way more than "I want to have two wives from a domestic standpoint" kind of thing. Couple that with all of the social issues we're aware of and you can see pretty quickly why the government will not just leave these people alone, let alone make this legal and legitimate.

[SeeBass]

Originally Posted by blankall

You have to look at the way polygamy would change society. In Saudi Arabia, where polygamy is legal, you have rich men collecting wives. This leaves a lot of poor and angry you men around to cause trouble.

Polygamy sounds alright on the surface, but if everyone was doing it, the numbers just wouldn't add up. The reverse scenario (many dudes, one lady) would be much rarer than the more familiar many ladies one due.

I agree next to unemployment this is one of the leading reasons that these guys go down that road.
Unemployed men with no job and not a chance at having a woman is a terrible combination.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by Slava

I don't think that people recognize the train wreck this would cause from a legal point of view. Frankly not many (if any) people would care that a guy has two wives. If they're all consenting adults then from a pure relationship standpoint its fine. Most guys would simply say "it's your problem."

The issue for the "system" to deal with though is a whole other enormous problem. Can you split income 3 ways, or more? At what point do you draw the line in that case? How many people do you allow to claim the various spousal benefits our society tends to allow? Can I take advantage of a spousal rollover of assets ad infinitum because there is always another spouse in line?

Its way more than "I want to have two wives from a domestic standpoint" kind of thing. Couple that with all of the social issues we're aware of and you can see pretty quickly why the government will not just leave these people alone, let alone make this legal and legitimate.

Wow, issues are way deeper than that. They have way more than 2 wives. What is the minimum age of his wives?

A fellow was at a local Hockey tournament in Calgary couple of years ago. He had 5 sons playing for the same hockey team. I checked his name in the internet... speculation is he has over 18 wives and over 100 kids.