Civil rights lawyer files suit challenging Utah ban on polygamy

SALT LAKE CITY — A civil rights attorney challenged Utah’s ban on polygamy Monday, citing a Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Texas sodomy law.

The lawsuit says Salt Lake County clerks refused a marriage license to a couple because the man was already married to another woman, who had consented to the additional marriage.

In denying the marriage license, the county violated the plaintiffs’ First Amendment right to practice their religion, attorney Brian Barnard said in the complaint.

The suit said polygamy is the plaintiffs’ “sincere and deeply held religious tenet.” The complaint does not say what religion the plaintiffs observe.

The suit argues that the Supreme Court protected defendants’ privacy in intimate matters when it struck down laws criminalizing gay sex last June, ruling that two gay men who were arrested after police entered their apartment and found them having sex were “entitled to respect for their private lives.”

Utah attorney general Mark Shurtleff said the lawsuit goes far beyond the Supreme Court ruling.

“Any time you involve marriage, family, children — fundamental units of society — the state does have a compelling interest in what that is,” Shurtleff said. “It happens to be a felony crime here.”

Polygamy was part of the early beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but was abandoned more than a century ago and outlawed as the territory sought statehood.

Some fundamentalist Mormons continue to believe in polygamy, and an estimated 30,000 in the West practice it.

Lawyers representing other polygamists have recently cited the Supreme Court ruling. Last month, the attorney for Tom Green, a convicted bigamist and child rapist, argued his client’s convictions should be thrown out in light of the case. The appeal of Rodney Holm — who was convicted of bigamy and unlawful sexual conduct with an underage girl — also cites the Texas case.

Read Another Article

Colorado City called ‘tense’
Polygamy ban contested

Related News Articles Topic(s): Polygamy Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Polygamy Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog