Polygamy show causing stir in Utah - CNN International - Mar 10, 2006
Polygamy isn't an issue for modern-day Mormons, said church spokesman Michael Otterson, adding that members understand why polygamy is no longer practiced.What concerns the church is anything that might make light of the abuse of women and children alleged to occur in some polygamist communities."To make polygamy, given those circumstances, the subject of television entertainment is not only a bad idea, but it's going to add to the pain of those victims," Otterson said.
Vicky Prunty, director of the anti-polygamy group Tapestry Against Polygamy (she appeared a good bit toward end of Inside P0lygamy), said she's happy the show is addressing the abuse issue, but, based on script she's read, it doesn't go far enough."The abuse is not in just the isolated areas," she said. "(Polygamy) deals with power and control. Those individuals feel coerced into it, even if it's a subtle coercion, a religious coercion."
Prunty said even though the church tries to separate itself from the polygamy issue, the majority of practicing polygamists, including her ex-husband with whom she was in a multiple marriage, trace their beliefs to Mormon doctrine.
Prunty's group has asked the Mormon church to get more involved in the issue. Otterson said the role of the church is not to involve itself in allegations of criminal behavior. "All we can do is raise our moral voice," he said. "The church will always be reluctant to step into an area that is the preserve of government."
Anne Wilde, the community relations director for the pro-polygamy group Principal Voices, said she's worried too. "I don't want it to represent our culture in a bad way," she said.
Wilde was in a plural marriage for more than 33 years, until her husband died about three years ago. She doubts the realities of most modern-day polygamists would interest TV viewers.
"I would like people to realize it's very similar to a monogamous family," Wilde said.

Will the polygamy debate ever be the same? - Salt Lake Tribune - Mar 12, 2006
Vicky Prunty, of Tapestry Against Polygamy, makes a best case/worse case observation. "It could lead individuals into thinking polygamy is a rosy lifestyle and that it can be one big love fest," Prunty said. Or, "It could end up having a positive effect, if enough people are outraged. I hope the end result will be that someone out there in the nation, perhaps many, will want to do something about this once they hear that polygamy is happening today in large amounts - in Utah, Arizona and other states - and that this is just not a fairy-tale."
Here, as elsewhere in the nation, there is continuing debate over what constitutes a family, what religious and privacy rights consenting adults have and who should have access to marriage - a discussion broad enough that it includes decriminalization of polygamy and protection, and expansion, of gay rights. The slippery slope corollary between the two goes something like this: Approve of one and the other is sure to follow.
Many native Utahns have polygamist ancestors and the topic is a local media staple, pushed into the spotlight in recent years by critics and proponents, law enforcement and practitioners of The Principle, as plural marriage is known.
The competing views can be summed up this way: Critics see polygamy as inherently abusive and want it prosecuted. Proponents see it as a viable alternative, religiously based family form and want it decriminalized. State authorities have taken a middle ground, vowing to prosecute child abuse, domestic violence and fraud but to leave alone consenting adults who engage in polygamy.
Bill Paxton, who plays the husband, said, "This show talks about the freedom in this country. Are we free to choose who we want to live with? Well, yes, but we can't have the legal rights." Which sounds a lot like observations made about another issue: gay marriage. Olsen said he and Scheffer, who according to the Los Angeles Times are partners, took note of how polygamists embraced the 2003 Lawrence v. Texas U.S. Supreme Court ruling recognizing gays' privacy rights. Polygamists have moved to use it to win constitutional recognition of their rights, "and we thought that just made such interesting, strange, and perverse bedfellows that it was just too delicious to not use."
Law is rightfully used to go after spouse abuse, educational neglect and child abuse but it is wrong to use it to "come down on a whole culture," said Ed Firmage, a professor of law emeritus at University of Utah law college. As legal arguments continue, Utah and Arizona authorities have taken control of the twin cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., the prototype for the "Big Love" compound of Juniper Creek. The towns are home to the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but a church property trust is now controlled by a Utah court; its public school is in Arizona administrators' hands; police officers and a judge who are polygamists have been bounced from their jobs; and eight men are charged with engaging in underage marriages. FLDS Prophet Warren Jeffs - the main model for the sinister prophet of "Big Love" - is a fugitive, wanted on an Arizona charge of arranging an underage marriage.