Why is sister wives not illegal

Kody Brown and his four wives — Christine, Janelle, Meri and Robyn — are celebrating the news that a law decriminalizing bigamy in Utah took effect. On the upcoming episode of Sister Wives , Kody Brown and his four wives — Christine , Janelle , Meri and Robyn — celebrate the news that a law decriminalizing bigamy in the state has taken effect.

Earlier in the season, the family was fearful as they returned to the place they once called home , where bigamy was a felony at the time. I'm just so excited," Robyn, 42, says in a confessional, as Kody, 52, adds, "This is news we've hoped to actually give our kids for 10 years or more.

Sitting down with her children, Robyn explains that the new law makes "plural marriage an infraction, which is like, equal to a traffic ticket, which is basically and essentially decriminalizing plural marriage.

Historically, "for about 50 years after the Mormon pioneers came to Salt Lake in about , they practiced polygamy — it was part of the religion, it was just a thing that was done. Despite the wives and Kody being kicked out of their church for failing to uphold other parts of their faith, the family still feels bound by this religious practice. In their church, spiritual marriage is exactly the same as a typical marriage, except it is always the man having multiple wives, never the other way around.

According to the Fundamentalists Mormons, God desires families to be polygamous. Even the mainstream Mormon church, which no longer practices polygamy, believes that their founder, Joseph Smith, was ordered by God to marry multiple wives. When Smith hesitated, God sent an angel armed with a sword to threaten Smith until he obeyed. But these are all things Kody and his family know.

About eight years ago, cameras caught the moment the family fled Utah for Nevada over fears of being arrested for their living situation. They also are very much aware of the laws where they live. In fact, the family sued the state of Utah in , claiming its anti-bigamy law was "unconstitutional. Kody has also said he wants to run for office to change these laws. Whether or not that actually happens, we'll all wait to see.

Product Reviews. Home Ideas. Unless Brown is legally married to all four of his wives, it would be difficult for the state to press charges against him for bigamy; "spiritual marriage" isn't something governed by the law, and it could easily be argued that interfering with that was interfering with Brown's right to freely practice his religion. So no bigamy charges or fines or wrist slaps have arisen in response to Sister Wives because Utah authorities have decided that they're just not going to enforce the law — sort of like how California turns a blind eye to awesome prescription weed, and no one hauls you off to jail if you say "arr-KAN-sass" in Little Rock.

So, now, this guy gets to be married four ladies and that's his "freedom of speech". But if a dude tried to marry another dude