1) Last week, the Browns put forth a lawsuit to the Utah Courts questioning whether or not Utah's bigamy laws are constitutional. Go, Browns! The Jessops got your back!
2) A new Hate Group has sprouted up in Utah called "Sound Choices Coalition". It is created by former plural wives who "escaped polygamy". I find it ironic that most of these groups are started by women who once lived polygamy - one of them for 50 years. The reason I call them a "hate group" - they are against decriminalization, and they want to keep it illegal. In other words, they don't want talks; they don't want negotiations. They just want to see polygamist men in jail. On their website, they say things like:
“No one wants to break up happy families or throw good fathers in prison,” says Christine Marie Katas, founder of Voices for Dignity, who is a member of the Sound Choices Coalition. Katas, who wrote the symbolic petition, said, “But there has to be a better, more creative legal solution because the evidence clearly shows that significantly more harm comes to polygamous women and children than monogamous women and children.”
"These harms include higher rates of domestic violence and abuse, including sexual abuse, higher rates of marital dissatisfaction, higher rates anxiety and depression, higher rates of psychiatric hospitalization, higher levels of somatization, phobia and other psychological problems. Polygamous women have more children, are more likely to die in childbirth and live shorter lives than their monogamous counterparts. Children in polygamous families face higher infant mortality, and physical and mental disabilities from incestuaous marriages. Many children suffer more emotional, behavioral and physical problems, have lower educational achievement, and are at a higher risk of psychological and physical abuse than children in monogamous families."
So where is this so called "evidence"? Where is the research that supports this? Is it not bigotry to make these kind of negative statements about a particular group without having something substantial to present, to back it up? Otherwise, it is just a stereotype. Nothing more.
Hence, this group is... a hate group.
3) Flora Jessop has put down her meth pipe long enough to come in front of the cameras to celebrate her sister's escape from the FLDS. Now, admittedly, I don't know what her sister went through. And I am certainly not a fan of FLDS's brand of Mormonism. But my question is:
Why are people listening to Flora Jessop? Given the constant lies and unreliable information that she has fed the media, given the fact that she has been caught in these lies, why do they use her as a "reliable source?" Because the media is looking for anything lurid and sensational, and Flora Jessop is always willing to provide that.
Yes, bigotry is alive and well in America. And it is "okay" to demonize and discriminate against polygamists as a whole group.
8 comments:
Another great post! I don't have anything to add because you pretty much covered it all: They make accusations but cannot back them up with real data. Even if they were right, abuse is abuse, polygamy is polygamy. No connection. My mother went through a horrible divorce when I was a kid. My father was not a nice man. She is still bitter to this day. I wonder if she shouldn't have gone on a crusade to save women from marriage! Your experience may be a sad one but it does not mean you need it to ruin (or worse, make it illegal) for everyone else. Voices of Dignity is their name? What a joke!
Hello I just found your blog. I am also in a polygamous marriage but I am Muslim and polygamy is legal in our religion. I wonder if these 'escaped' polygamists realize that there is abuse in any type of marriage? I really wish that polygamy would become legal in the U.S. and that we polygamists didn't have to hide our life.
Thanks for your comments. I agree. There in abuse in any system of marriage and/ or relationship. It is not the fault of polygamy that some men abuse it - just as it is not the fault of monogamy that abuses exist in that system, either.
Moroni: You simply wrote that you "don't know" what Ruby Jessop went through. How about you check out what Ruby herself has said she went through?! You owe her that much.
Point taken, Leila. However, I DO have experiences with her sister, Flora. And Flora was not above making up lies about me personally, vowing to see me prosecuted. So my assessment of Flora stands.
Brother Moroni, I did not make up those statistics, my friend. They came from medical studies and other research submitted to and examined by the Chief Justice Bauman of British Columbia Supreme Court after "the most comprehensive judicial record on the subject ever produced, I have concluded that the Attorneys General and their allied Interested Persons have demonstrated a very strong basis for a reasoned apprehension of harm to many in our society inherent in the practice of polygamy..."
If you would like to review the research and rationale for the decision yourself, you can study it right here: http://stoppolygamy.com/court-decision-on-polygamy/
I was sharing the facts of the court. My opinion was that creative thinking and collaboration should be explored in an attempt to make a difference. By no means did that make me part of a hate group.
That's silly. I care about the welfare of women and children - that did not merit posting a photo of the KKK. That photo is offensive even to look at. I have many African American friends. It would hurt them even to know a photo like that still exists and is being posted on the Internet. Put yourself in their shoes. Would you be so kind as to remove it?
I believe our time and energy would be better spent building friendships, collaborating, and figuring out how to change those harmful facts.
No one wants to see people harmed. I am sure that is one area where we are in agreement, right? I am sure the solutions are out there. I hope you find them.
Kind regards,
Christine Marie
Sister Christine,
I have taken the photo down at your request. First, because you requested it. And second, because you actually have made an effort to have a dialogue with the polygamous society. That is more than many of your contemporaries have done.
You have referred me to some research that corroborates your claims. I ask you the question - was this research done exclusively with the communities in British Columbia (FLDS and the Blackmore communities)? I would like to point out that many fundamentalist Mormons would not find any common ground with these communities - culturally, doctrinally, or socially. To me, it is akin to doing a polygamy study on Muslims and then applying that data to Mormons. We do NOT want to be painted with the same brush that is used to portray the FLDS, and other extreme groups.
I lived as a polygamist for 13 years, and, whereas my attempt has failed, it had nothing to do with polygamy. But the internet record speaks that for more than a decade, I have publicly spoken out against abuse (mental, physical, and emotional). I have spoken out against child marriages and arranged marriages. I worked for 9 years as a social worker, and used my knowledge as an advocate to get polygamous families to speak to the government and human service agencies.
So when you say that you have done a very detailed study in British Columbia, I believe you. But I do not feel it represents me, or the people I associate with.
You indicate that you are open to have dialogue with polygamous families to change that. I applaud that. And for that, I offer my sincere apologies for my post, which could be considered inflammatory. I am truly sorry. This is an emotional topic. I love my children more than anything in this world; I live for them. And the thought that a government agency and/ or advocacy group would take them away from me just because I am/ was a polygamist is terrifying to me. I was already witnessing hateful people WHO DID NOT KNOW ME spreading lies and speaking to the media about me. That is when I decided to go public and speak to the media, including starting this blog. So if I misrepresented you, I am sorry. I welcome any dialogue.
Please continue to speak to polygamists and draw them out of the shadows. Because it is in the shadows that the crimes are committed. Coming into the light and being able to converse is what will help us all.
Thanks again for responding,
Moroni Jessop
PS Perhaps I can refer you to "Polygamous Families in Contemporary Society" (Atlman, Ginat, 1996) which concludes that abuse and dysfunction do not occur in any greater rates in polygamous families than monogamous families.
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