While there may be laws that make marrying children a crime, those laws do no good unless they are enforced. Utah authorities have been extremely lax in enforcing statutory rape, child abuse, and incest laws against those in the polygamy community. Although there have been some recent improvements, most notably the decision to prosecute Warren Jeffs, there are still thousands of young girls who have been forced into early marriage by their polygamist families.

To anyone who wants more information on polygamy, I recommend Jon Krakauer's "Under the Banner of Heaven" and the A&E documentary "Inside Polygamy." Jon Krakauer makes a compelling comparison between the way Utah authorities viewed the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart and how they treat girls trying to escape from their polygamist families. Authorities pursued an intense manhunt for Elizabeth Smart, yet frequently return escaping girls to their families.

Another troublesome aspect of polygamy is that many male heads of families refuse to support their wives and children, instead leaving them to apply for government assistance to survive. Although they believe the government is evil, they feel that taking money from the government is good and call the practice "bleeding the beast."

It is very troublesome to me that practioners of this barbaric lifestyle are being aligned with proponents of gay marriage. Gay marriage is an act of love between two consenting adults who want to validate their love in the same way that heterosexuals can. Polygamy is a way for men to use the archaic teachings of Joseph Smith to validate their lifestyle choices of child sexual abuse, incest and profligacy.

Another resource on the true impact of polygamy on women and children is the website created by the anti-polygamy group, Tapestry Against Polygamy.

I have watched the first two episodes of Big Love. While I wouldn't say that it is a ringing endorsement for polygamy, I am concerned that it has not yet gone far enough to show how bad polygamy can really be. In the first episode, we saw glimpses of the child brides at the compound. I hope that the show continues to explore that storyline and how polygamists gain control over their child brides.

In response to another poster who asked what happens to unwed men who come of age when all the women are already married off to older men, many of these men are usually shunned and pushed out of the community because they pose a threat to the existing, established patriarchs. Unless you have a special connection to the more established men (like being the first-born son), there is no support for these male children. I was glad to see that this reality was reflected in this week's episode of Big Love - we learned that the main character's father forced him out of the compound at age 14 to earn his way on the streets of Salt Lake City.

A number of posters here comment that polygamy is a valid lifestyle choice that we should leave alone because we don't want others to comment on our lifestyle choices. While that is a nice sentiment in theory, it ignores the plight of the thousands of women for whom polygamy is no choice. Here's a common scenario for a young girl born into a polygamist commnity - born to a young mother and a man who is much, much older than her mother, the girl's father dies of old age, mother is remarried to father's younger brother, and eventually the young girl is also married (as early as 11 or 12 years old) to her new step-father and uncle. Lovely! Despite all the laws on the books about child sexual abuse, incest and statutory rape, this kind of stuff still occurs frequently in American polygamist communities.

Other posters have referred to different types of polygamy that involve consenting adults deciding to practice a different kind of lifestyle. I have no problem with that, as long as it is truly consenting. However, I do not believe that the vast majority of polygamy that is practiced in this country is based upon anything other than the "principle" as invoked by followers of Joseph Smith.

is trying to have a debate about the positive aspects of polygamy without addressing the actual reality of how polygamy is practiced in this country.

Yes, it's all very well and good for consenting adults to come to the conclusion that they want to live in a polyamorous marriage. However, I have not seen much about this practice. Can someone please point me to some resources that explain when and where this happens? Is it common? Every pro-polygamy activist I've read about comes from a sect based upon Mormon theology.