Unexpected Result

Had quite an unexpected result from the poll on whether it should be legal to marry more than one person:

• 34 % in favour
• 37 % opposed
• 27% undecided

It seemed appropriate to ask the question given gay marriage is fairly widely accepted by the public now and it is actually just a matter of time before the members of Parliament catch up on the general mood of the public in the area.

This area could be one of the future areas of change post gay marriage because ultimately we need to have a discussion around the boundaries of it. It is fairly clear the legal marriage people now get is not a Christian marriage. The laws no longer support that same kind of relationship between couples and for less than half of married couples are both Christian. Therefore it only makes sense we cease to look at the legal institution of marriage as though it should conform to only one religion. The fact is there are many other religions that allow for multiple partners and the New Zealand Government forbids them from continuing this practice.

The ban exists for two reasons. The first is that ethno-religious reason that marriage should be between one man and one woman. The second is the risks of domestic abuse that can often result in polygamous marriages. Polygyny is the most common form of polygamous marriage where a man marries two women at the same time who do not marry each other. This form of marriage is often used as a method of subjugation of women and can have highly detrimental effects.

The first reason can be dismissed because we simply should not conform to ethno-religious norms in our law, they should be without bias to citizens who are different for whatever reason. The second is more challenging however and ultimately comes down to the same sort of arguments that made prostitution legal. Polygamous marriages are happening whether we like it or not. People simply fail to get marriage certificates and have religious communities far away from towns. When people do not register their marriages or avoid talking to Police about the nature of their relationship this is an environment that fosters increased domestic violence. People would not be in a situation where they could report issues of domestic abuse and their less frequent contact with the outside world fosters subjugation.

Accordingly with legalisation we could expect more of the relationships of that nature but with less harmful effect. Whether this balances out to make it all worth it is unclear and it is likely Parliament won't touch the issue for the long time. However it is very interesting how close this poll was even with its very small sample size and obvious bias issues.