Strib's Kersten plays polygamy card

[CatholicEdHead]

In an effort to ratchet up the anti-gay marriage ammendment scaremongering, Kersten tries to scare everyone with the polygamy card. Can we expect the animal love card to be played next? :puke:

http://www.startribune.com/191/story/310327.html

"The Minnesota Legislature is considering proposing a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Many opponents claim that definition is antiquated and discriminatory. A committed relationship should be the only criterion for marriage, they say.

But wait. What if a person loves two people, or three or more? If "one man-one woman" is a discriminatory limitation on the choice of a life partner, on what grounds can the state logically restrict marriage to two people? The fact is, once you adopt same-sex marriage -- legally changing the standard for marriage from one-man, one-woman to a "committed relationship" -- there is no principled way to prevent its extension to polygamy or other forms of "plural marriage" or partnership.
........
Here in America, professors at elite law schools such as Yale and Columbia are laying the groundwork for legal recognition of committed relationships of three or more. Drawing on concepts borrowed from civil rights law, they say they aim to protect "sexual minorities" from discrimination.
......
What's the likely endpoint? Marriage may be redefined out of existence, and replaced by a flexible, contract-based system of government-registered relationships. So get ready. Today gay marriage supporters' mantra is, "How does my same-sex marriage harm your marriage?" Down the road it may be, "How does my marriage of two men and a woman harm your marriage?" If we don't answer the first question with resolve -- making clear that "one man-one woman" is at the heart of marriage in Minnesota -- we may not have a chance to answer the second."

[katinmn]

1. What? Why not claim gay marraige will lead to legalizing bestiality?

I'm ready to protest in front of the Star Tribune until they fire that hate-mongering homophobic stupid bitch.

[Minnesota Raindog]

2. So answer the question to our "mantra"

Kersten says:

Today gay marriage supporters' mantra is, "How does my same-sex marriage harm your marriage?" Down the road it may be, "How does my marriage of two men and a woman harm your marriage?" If we don't answer the first question with resolve -- making clear that "one man-one woman" is at the heart of marriage in Minnesota -- we may not have a chance to answer the second.


But Kersten--like Michele Bachmann and the rest of the ugly bigots behind this legislation--fails to answer question number one: "How does my same-sex marriage harm your marriage?"

[dflprincess]

3. I was thinking the other night

that a lot of the arguments (though not the polygamy one) used against same sex marriage are the same ones used against women's suffrage...Destruction of the family and all that. Bigots never change.

[northernsoul]

4. State has compelling interest in binary marriages

Kersten needs to brush up on her constitutional law. The state does have a compelling interest in binary marriages (limited to two people) in that polygamous marriages pose a procedural and administrative nightmare for government. If our family and probates courts are confusing mess now, wait until a marriage of five people dissolves and there are ensuing fights over property division, support, and child custody.

In contrast, homosexual marriages are no more difficult to administer than heterosexual marriages, therefore the state does not have the same compelling interest in disciminating on the basis of the sexual identity of the two people seeking a marriage license that it does in discriminating against more than 2 people or whatever gender mix who seek state recognition of their marriage.

I continue to hope in vain that someday an original thought will cross Kersten's petty mind. Instead he serves up nothing but the same shopworn scare stories. Next week: Katherine Kersten Reveals that Rock and Roll Music Promotes Communism!

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

5. The super-bigoted Kersten is the reason I don't buy the paper anymore

and every time they call to ask me to renew my subscription, I tell them exactly why.
Politely, of course, but it still leaves the poor guy stammering on the other end
when I tell them I'll give no money to a newspaper who supports such bigotry.

Oh, that and the fact that the Strib is running "Mallard Fillmore" in the comics section now.

Who's next? Ann Coulter?

[dodger501]

6. I have subscribed to the Strib for decades

Still do. I used to get worked up by Kersten, now I am able to skip over it, she is pathetic. Same with Mallard Fillmore.
She should be introduced to Rick "Man on Dog" Santorum to compare notes.

If they do bring in Ann Thrax Coulter, you can bet I will dump the Strib like a hot rock.

[LuckyLib]

10. I got tired of KK's blather when it was occasional. Now it's even

more fatiguing since she has a regular forum. I don't make it much passed the first few paragraphs, where I'm shaking my head and muttering, "Oh, please." What a no-talent. The Center for the American Experiment has it's own Trib mouthpiece. We deserve better.

[cynthia]

12. same here

And I thought I was so original. It would be interesting to get the insiders stats on how many people answer that way. Why should I pay money to have hate delivered to my home? No thank you!

[ISUGRADIA]

7. I thought she'd be one to support biblical marriage

Gee, King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines.

[katinmn]

8. Good point.

:)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. Katherine Kersten is Ann Coulter with slightly better manners.

And her stupid notion that allowing gay marriage will lead to (gasp!) polygamy is just another example of the wingnut right's tendency to associate any progressive idea with something extreme -- a straw man to knock down. What she either doesn't understand, or is too disingenuous to acknowledge, is that there are a lot of people who would get married if gay marriage were possible, but there seems to be no movement to promote polygamy. I'm not aware of anybody who is agitating for multiple spouses; even the Mormons have disavowed polygamy.

Nobody is seriously trying to promote polygamy. It's illegal in all states. Kersten's argument, as usual, is pure bullshit.

[MnFats]

11. next she'll interview "Sanctorium."

As Tony Soprano referred to the Penna. senator in the Sunday night episode.....
Tony should have a talk with Kersten...

[dflprincess]

13. The other day she was ranting that we're not giving out enough

HB1 visas and it's hurting the ability of Minnesota businesses to compete. Apparently, there's not enough unemployed technical workers for her taste.

[CatholicEdHead]

14. That is her "cheap labor" economic model

which is of course pure boiler plate material. Name the GOP talking point and she will parrot it word for word.