Gay marriage vs. polygamous marriage: An introduction at Pandagon

Amanda at Pandagon is on fire. She's been writing all sorts of great things lately. One in particular that she posted caught my eye. This post is about the intersection between the fight to legalize gay marriage and the fight to legalize polygamous marriage. Here's an excerpt:

At first glance, the two arguments--one in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage and one in favor of legalizing polygamy--seem basically identical, which is to say that the people advocating for these changes feel that the marriage laws as they stand discriminate against them. But Hamilton argues that if you take a realistic look at the way religion factors into these arguments, then you start to see a much different picture emerge, because both controversies have someone arguing that their religious beliefs should dictate the law, but with same-sex marriage it's the opponents who are arguing this and with polygamy it's the proponents. If you start with her basic argument that it's antithetical to the 1st Amendment to allow law to be dictated by religious belief over other concerns like the greater social good, it's clear that these two reform movements are completely different--same sex marriage proponents are using a social good measure for their arguments and polygamy proponents are arguing that social good isn't a factor because their religious belief trumps it. To keep it simple.

I highly recommend reading the whole thing -- it's a very thoughtful article. Hopefully I can write a longer response later this evening.