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Last year, at the end of the first season of Sister Wives, a reality show about a polygamist family in Utah, Kody Brown took a fourth wife, Robyn. Rain threatened to cancel the religious ceremony. Meri, Brown’s first wife and the only one to whom he is legally married, commented on the gloomy sky, “That’s how my heart felt.” Before then, Brown, a 43-year-old ad salesman, his three wives, and their 13 children had achieved an equilibrium of sorts. Robyn and her three kids threw this off balance, but welcoming Robyn was a nonnegotiable duty for the other women. “At that time, it really establishes itself as a patriarchal relationship,” says Felice Batlan, a professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law and a fan of the show.

Bringing in a new wife did more than disrupt the family’s peace. It made the Browns the target of a criminal investigation under the anti-bigamy law that Utah had to adopt in order to enter the union. As far as the state is concerned, Meri is Brown’s only wife, but the law defines a bigamist as a married individual who “purports to marry another person or cohabitates with another person.” The state doesn’t often prosecute families unless it finds evidence of another crime, like child abuse or statutory rape, but the Browns fled to Nevada after the first season ended.

Last month, they sued Utah, arguing that the anti-bigamy law is unconstitutional under the First Amendment and Lawrence v. Texas, the 2003 Supreme Court case that struck down anti-sodomy laws used to prosecute gay men. Brown isn’t asking for the state to recognize all his marriages. He’s arguing that being prosecuted for his spiritual marriages violates his freedom of religion and that, under Lawrence, the state can’t prosecute consenting adults for their sex lives.

Rick Perry’s federalist defense of NY’s marriage equality shouldn’t distract you from his gay-baiting past.

"As someone who underwent ex-gay therapy for three years—and not because I was “going undercover” as gay to fancy myself an investigative reporter—I couldn’t care less if a clinic owned by Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and her husband, Marcus, practices ex-gay therapy."

— Gabriel Arana, in defense of Marcus Bachmann

"I’m not going to make news on that today. Good try, though."

— President Obama on being asked his views on same-sex marriage during today’s press conference. (via joshsternberg)

"There is, in other words, reason for optimism, but it will still be a struggle to gain marriage rights across the country. Absent a victory at the Supreme Court, achieving recognition of same-sex marriage rights will be difficult in most of the states, and a victory in one place (however obtained) produces opposition elsewhere. Like most social-justice struggles, the fight for marriage equality will encounter many impediments. Advocates of marriage equality should not leave any viable strategy unused."

— Scott Lemeiux, “Don’t Bet On It”

The animated version of NY’s legalization of gay marriage. We like the water-guns that shoot rainbows.

A More Civil Union

When the history of same-sex marriage is written, New York will be but a footnote; it wasn’t first, and it won’t be the last. This is not to say that passing same-sex marriage in New York — the media capital of the country and one of its most populous states — is no big deal. Hundreds of thousands of gay couples in the state will now be able to pursue fulfillment in the same way as their straight friends, and it will also provide momentum for other states to pass similar laws.

But in Grisanti’s words one can hear the echo of state Sen. Ruben Diaz’s wistful comment right before the vote: “gay marriage is inevitable in New York.” That’s true elsewhere, too.

 

In case you missed it: New York legalizes same-sex marriage — and it’s about damn time.