Senate leader passes out a polygamy primer
 Allen wants to keep issue on the minds of senators
 
By Josh Loftin and Nancy Perkins
Deseret Morning News
 
Although polygamy is not the subject of any legislative bills, Senate Minority Whip Ron Allen hopes to keep the issue on the minds of fellow senators.

Joking that he wanted to give senators "something to read on the bus" during their afternoon ride to Fillmore for Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s State of the State speech, Allen, D-Tooele, distributed copies of "God's Brothel."

He also hopes the book, written by Andrea Moore-Emmett, tells the stories of former polygamist wives and provides a history of polygamy, provides a new perspective on an old debate, even if it is not something being tackled during this session.

"We're just trying to raise the consciousness level of policy makers about what happens in these communities," Allen, who was distributing in cooperation with the author and publisher, said. "There's no agenda."

Sen. Parley Hellewell, R-Orem, said that he was a little bothered by the book's subtitle, which referenced "Mormon and Christian Fundamentalist Polygamy." Regardless, he doubted that the book would receive any of his attention during the coming weeks.

"I couldn't even tell what the book was about, and whether it was saying that Mormons practice polygamy — which they don't," he said. "I put it on my bookshelf, but I probably won't even get to open it before the session ends."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints abandoned the practice of plural marriage more than 100 years ago.

Among the women featured in the book is Vicky Prunty, executive director of Tapestry Against Polygamy, a Salt Lake City-based organization of former polygamous wives.

"This donation to the Legislature just kind of happened. We didn't instigate it," said Prunty. "It was very altruistic on the part of the donors."

The books were purchased from the publisher by a group of anonymous donors that includes an attorney, a social worker, and a health-care professional, she said.

"You may have some preconceived notions about polygamy until you read something like this book," Prunty said. " 'God's Brothel' is one of the first books to come out with detailed stories of women who left polygamy and the barriers they faced."

Assistant Minority Whip Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake, said that while he was "intrigued" by the book and wanted to give it a chance before dismissing it, it may fall to the wayside because of the sheer amount of information they receive during the session.

"I'm going to glance at it, and see if it is interesting," he said. "But will I read it? It's tough to say."

Should they open it, Mary Batchelor, the director of the pro-polygamy Principle Voices of Polygamy, hopes they realize it is "biased against a culture" and that the stories are not "word-for-word fact, but they're victims' stories" and thus lack balance. It is no different than collecting stories of abuse from monogamous marriages and claiming that they represent the entire institution.

She also worries that the book does more harm than good by creating and encouraging biases against polygamist marriages. But she does not expect to counter its distribution with any of their own material, although the group did distribute the book "Voices For Harmony", which Batchelor described as "equally one-sided, in favor of polygamy," a few years ago to legislators.

"If Ron Allen thinks that he's helping victims of abuse, he's doing the opposite," she said. "Bias will create more abuse."
 
deseretnews.com
Originally published Wednesday, January 19, 2005
 
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