Has The Gay Marriage Slippery Slope Started? Slate Writer Calls for Legalizing Polygamy

We are constantly reassured that recognizing gay marriage will not lead to the recognition of other unions, such as polygamous or incestuous ones. As a conservative who supports gay marriage, and has done so for quite some time, I bought into these reassurances in good faith.

Now I am starting to wonder if I’ve been hoodwinked.

Why? On April 15th, an article was posted on Slate. Had it not been for Rush Limbaugh finding and discussing the article on his radio show today, it would have likely gone unnoticed by many, posted only hours before the Boston bombing and lost in the subsequent news cycle. But there it is, entitled: “Legalize Polygamy! No. I am not kidding.”

In it, Jillian Keenan writes:

“Recently, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council reintroduced a tired refrain: Legalized gay marriage could lead to other legal forms of marriage disaster, such as polygamy. Rick Santorum, Bill O’Reilly, and other social conservatives have made similar claims. It’s hardly a new prediction—we’ve been hearing it for years. Gay marriage is a slippery slope! A gateway drug! If we legalize it, then what’s next? Legalized polygamy?

We can only hope.

Yes, really. While the Supreme Court and the rest of us are all focused on the human right of marriage equality, let’s not forget that the fight doesn’t end with same-sex marriage. We need to legalize polygamy, too. Legalized polygamy in the United States is the constitutional, feminist, and sex-positive choice.

…

The definition of marriage is plastic. Just like heterosexual marriage is no better or worse than homosexual marriage, marriage between two consenting adults is not inherently more or less “correct” than marriage among three (or four, or six) consenting adults. Though polygamists are a minority—a tiny minority, in fact—freedom has no value unless it extends to even the smallest and most marginalized groups among us. So let’s fight for marriage equality until it extends to every same-sex couple in the United States—and then let’s keep fighting. We’re not done yet.”

And…. scene. Allow that to digest.

The first thing that came to mind when I read this article today, dumbfounded, was one night several years ago (it may have been in 2005 or 2006), as I was watching O’Reilly Factor. My routine on weeknights was to watch O’Reilly Factor, followed by Hannity & Colmes, while getting ready to go out for the evening (hey, I didn’t sleep much). Bill O’Reilly was interviewing a gay marriage proponent and asked her about this possible polygamy slippery-slope. She laughingly assured him, as they closed out the segment: “Bill, if that happens, I promise I’ll be right at your side fighting it.” For some reason, that segment always stuck in my mind. (Apologies, readers: I tried finding it online but was unable to.)

Yet here we are today, with this Slate writer claiming one must ‘keep fighting’ and the gay marriage fight must continue on to legalize polygamy. But aren’t we told it would stop at gay marriage?

Consider this O’Reilly Factor ‘Talking Points’ Memo from June 2006, now oddly prescient in light of the Slate article, in which O’Reilly stated:

If gay marriage were legalized, then polygamy would have to be. Once you begin to alter the traditional definition of marriage, under ‘equal protection’ you can’t stop at one alternative situation and then deny others.

Then there’s this post by Equality Matters, an offshoot of the liberal Media Matters for America, slamming O’Reilly in 2011, headlined: “Bill O’Reilly Desperately Tries to Link Marriage Equality To Polygamy.”

Hmm. So what does Equality Matters make of Slate‘s polygamy pitch, couched as a continuation of the fight for gay marriage recognition? Is Slate‘s writer ‘desperately’ linking the two (as O’Reilly was accused of doing)… or was O’Reilly correct and now owed an apology?

Gay marriage is not even legalized yet in most states — and already we are hearing the clarion call for polygamy recognition.

Forget the ‘slippery slope’ — it appears a dam has broken. And I’m sitting here wondering if I did the right thing helping to smash it open.

[All bold emphasis is this column’s author]
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Editor’s note: This post has been edited since its original posting – Jon Nicosia

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.