# Court strikes down polygamy cohab law

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-strikes-down-polygamy-cohab-law/676502>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [December 16, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-strikes-down-polygamy-cohab-law/676502 "2013-12-16T21:47:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2013, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-strikes-down-polygamy-cohab-law/676502/81 "2013-12-19T23:36:31Z")

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**lance strongarm** and **YogSosoth** , if you want to fight over the relevance/accuracy/appropriateness/other aspects of religious beliefs or religions, go open a new thread and have at it.

Stop hijacking this thread.

[/Moderating]

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**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-strikes-down-polygamy-cohab-law/676502/82 "2013-12-20T16:38:49Z")

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> [@YogSosoth](#):
>
> First, can we all assume the given that sexual orientation is inborn? Thanks.

No we can’t. I may agree with you but I don’t think you can build an argument on “Assume I’m right. Now I’ll prove I’m right.”

> [@YogSosoth](#):
>
> The reason why I don’t consider marrying multiple people to be an inborn trait because there is no biological imperative to be attracted to number as opposed to gender.

So you discount ALL of the examples we have in the animal kingdom where the dominant male tries to inseminate as many females as possible?

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**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-strikes-down-polygamy-cohab-law/676502/83 "2013-12-20T23:05:30Z")

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> [@Saint\_Cad](#):
>
> No we can’t. I may agree with you but I don’t think you can build an argument on “Assume I’m right. Now I’ll prove I’m right.”

So you don’t think its inborn?

> [@Saint\_Cad](#):
>
> So you discount ALL of the examples we have in the animal kingdom where the dominant male tries to inseminate as many females as possible?

We’re not talking about spreading your genes, we’re talking about loving a person due to an inborn orientation. There’s a difference between doing that because you want to and doing it because you have to

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**Author:** ![Farin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e79b87/32.png) [@Farin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farin)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2013, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-strikes-down-polygamy-cohab-law/676502/84 "2013-12-20T23:17:12Z")

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> [@YogSosoth](#):
>
> So you don’t think its inborn?

As with many things to do with human psychology, I don’t think it’s easy to say it’s “biological” or “environmental”. I think it’s a complex tie between the two. I’m sure that you could find people who are “born that way” and will never be anything but homosexuals. I’m also sure you could find people that have chosen to get it on with their own gender right now and may change later on in life. And every possible position between those two extremes are probably represented by a not insignificant portion of the gay and lesbian community. (bi curious? full bisexual? opportunistic bisexual? etc etc)

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