A somewhat related note that I learned in class... The multiple wives aspect from Islamic culture is based off of Mohammed, who only married multiple wives because he was willing to love/treat them equally. In current times, polygamy is actually dying off a lot in the Middle East because (aside from times changing), religious leaders/scholars emphasize the fact that the vast majority of people cannot love/treat multiple partners at the same level. I found it interesting so I decided to throw it into this thread.
Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot subtlety is not your strong point. Yay, it should be legal as long as all parties are consenting adults.
You call it rights under law, which is somewhat the same as my money statement above. What I was referring to with "money" was stuff like the right to be covered on insurance, tax laws, etc. The only stuff that falls out of that range is stuff like visitation rights, so I didn't quite cover it with that statement.
I think it should be legal. There are Mormons (not all of them) that believe in plural marriage as part of their religious beliefs. Like on "Big Love." It's not about being sexist. The wives of Bill Hendrickson (or "sister wives") are there by their own choosing and consider it a partnership in which they are all married to each other and will be there for each other in the afterlife.
I think there are numerous rights for married people under the law, which is why it's incredibly difficult to create a separate (but equal) kind of civil union scheme. Consider that: 1) Married people can file their income taxes as such and receive certain benefits 2) Divorce Law/Property rights 3) Family Law - custody of children, right to choose medical care for the spouse when incapacitated 4) Probate Law - property rights when a spouse dies 5) Social Security benefits for married persons That's 5 off the top of my head.
