[quote name='thrustbucket']Fair enough.
Then I don't want to hear one more word about gay marriage from it's proponents unless they acknowledge that polygamists should have legal marriage to, for all the same reasons.

[/quote]
Polygamy, legally, is a separate battle. It's not discrimination based on gender (which doesn't require restructuring of legal implications between two people), but would require a redefinition of the asset contracts as currently defined because it would introduce multiple parties. It may be a rights issue, I wouldn't argue that, but it's not the same legal battle.
[quote name='thrustbucket']Well if you are ok with polygamy, Dmaul, then you aren't who I target these remarks at.
I will bring it up over and over and over again, because to me it is very relevant, since I have gay friends and I know people practicing polygamy. I care about them both. And I wold absolutely love for you to meet one of them face to face and tell him why gay rights trump theirs.
So not only is it relevant and important to keep bringing up, it's just as important as every pro-gay marriage argument I've heard; trying to liken it to civil rights, trying to say it's bigotry to be against, intolerant to be against, hate, etc etc.
It's funny that you mention that it's an insult to gays, because I'm sure many polygamists feel just as insulted being grouped in with gay marriage.
But you hit a very important nail in what you said - Somehow it's an insult because one is more "socially normal" than the other? Do you have any idea how bad that sounds? That's been the problem all along, for gay marriage, or any other group. It becomes an argument about what is socially normal enough to fight for instead of just what's right. And that aint right.
If either/any minority group was smart, they would compile their efforts and change marital law to be all-inclusive instead of trying to convince the nation/world that they alone should get exceptions.[/quote]
Again, it's a different battle.
[quote name='mykevermin']Why can't the polygamists take up for themselves? Must they truly rely on homosexuals to do the arguing for them?[/quote]
I agree 100%. The piggybacking argument is annoying, especially given the attitude of most polygamists toward gays. I wish I had the survey in front of me, but I read this study about the issue and polygamists were overwhelmingly in the camp of "we're not pervs like them."
Simply, they can go

themselves. Not to mention, gaining recognition for each cause is a lot easier when it's not all smashed together in a big hodge podge, inviting all those "next is marrying animals!" comments. I think visibility for gay issues should focus on gays alone at this stage. Polygamists have their own work to do.
[quote name='JolietJake']I had a friend tell me the other day, i'm not making this up, that legalizing gay marriage would lead to other things like people trying to marry animals.
That's one of the many reasons he has for why gays shouldn't be allowed to marry.[/quote]
It's always amusing to me how straight people sanctify straight marriage. Which ends overwhelmingly in divorce.
[quote name='thrustbucket']Call me an over-simplifier, but I dunno why each battle should be fought separately. Seems like a waste. That's why it makes a hell of a lot more sense to me to just redefine marriage as open to interpretation. Think of all the millions of dollars saved, hundreds of headlines we wouldn't have to see, and heartache prevented.
It seems we've learned nothing since Womens rights and Civil rights. For some reason we, as a society, seem to need to analyze each and every separate issue, usually taking decades for each one, before each is accepted. I think that very nature of ourselves is the root of many problems.
Heaven forbid we actually just adhere to simple words such as "all men created equally" to solve these sort of problems at the root; no, we need to tackle each branch and leaf.[/quote]
I don't agree it's the same tree. Sorry. Women's rights and civil rights were legally the same beast. As is gay marriage and straight marriage. Polygamy is not. And this is what the whole fiasco is over - legal rights. Moral acceptance is not something you can pass a law about.
[quote name='dmaul1114']Again, because gays shouldn't have their rights delayed because polygamy would take much longer to be legalized.
And honestly, I think gay marriage can eventually be legalized, but I don't think polygamy ever will. Again, I have no problem, but I don't think society will ever accept multiple legal spouses to an extent to have polygamy legalized. It's just too far divergent from the ideal nuclear family.
Gays shouldn't have to worry about all the extra hurdles facing polygamy--which is pretty much a lost cause.[/quote]
Agreed. I'm not necessarily saying polygamy will never be recognized, but I have a hard time believing it will. Especially because polygamists have been largely silent as activists in educating people. Even I don't know that much about it, beyond the abuses I've seen with it (Warren Jeffs, et al). That's the fault of polygamists in not educating the public. They have a lot of work to do.
I don't think pairing up causes makes any kind of sense. They're very different.