Montana polygamist Nathan Collier and his family are using the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic ruling on same-sex marriage as an argument to obtain a second marriage license. Collier, who is legally married to Vicki, said he believes that he now has the right to wed his second spouse, Christine – but Montana officials are not buying his story.
It is crystal clear that after same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court will be hearing a polygamist case, and a trio from Montana has opened the ball.
Meet, Nathan Collier and his two wives – Vicki and Christine – a happy Montana polygamist threesome, who are not ashamed of their life choices and are now demanding that they be recognized as a family.
The Colliers were featured in an episode of the TLC reality series “Sister Wives” earlier this year. They marched to Yellowstone County Courthouse hoping to obtain a marriage license.
Collier legally married Vicki in 2000 and is hoping to do the same with Christine. The polygamist man told the clerk that based on the Marriage Equality Act, he should be allowed to marry Christine because:
“It’s about marriage equality.You can’t have this without polygamy.”
Baffled by the request, the clerk told the polygamist family:
“We’ll have to deny that, let me go grab the other supervisor real quick so I can get confirmation but as far as I’m aware you can’t be married to two people at the same time.”
The Montana Attorney General’s office was asked to review the application and quickly denied to do so based on the simple fact that polygamy is illegal in America. Christine, who “wed” Collier in 2007, said:
“It’s two distinct marriages, it’s two distinct unions, and for us to come together and create family, what’s wrong with that?I don’t understand why it’s looked upon and frowned upon as being obscene.”
Collier, a former Mormon, who was kicked out of the church for being in multiple relationships, explained that he plans to used Chief Justice John Roberts‘ dissent that said “people in polygamous relationships could make the same legal argument that not having the opportunity to marry disrespects and subordinates them” in the fight for his marriage and his family to get the legitimacy that it deserves.
What are your thoughts on this Montana polygamist family’s quest for equality?
