1. What is a normal day in the life of a polygamist?
A day in the life of a polygamist is much the same as that of anybody else in the world. You wake up go to work come home go to the movies, work in the yard, check your myspace and emails, play Halo 2 at a friends house or take your dog for a walk. Having more than one mom doesn’t seriously affect my day to day life as much as many would think.

2. Are you associated to the Mormon church?
No I am not. Although people in the Mormon church and I believe in much the same things ( Joseph Smith, Book of Mormon) There are several belief difference that make my religion completely separate from that of the church.

3. What makes you believe in Polygamy?
• I believe that Joseph Smith is a prophet of god
• I believe that God told Joseph smith that Plural Marriage was a celestial Principle and commanded him to live it.
• I also believe that God is unchanging and so are his principles (which means that he doesn’t change his mind about what he requires of his people)
• Which leads me to believe in the 1886 revelation to John Taylor which states that Plural Marriage is an everlasting principle and will always be required of God’s servants.

4. Is Polygamy all about sex?
I wish I could answer no to that question. There are undoubtedly sick people out there that probably use Polygamy for sex. However Polygamy the way it is intended to be lived is as far from a sex acquisition tool as a nuclear war head.

5. What are feeling on Warren Jeffs?
Warren Jeffs is an evil man who Gained power over the FLDS church and used that power to further his own wants and pleasures. He twisted and warped what was once a good (even if not all true) religious belief into a cult. And in doing so he Stole millions of Dollars, destroyed numerous families and ruined countless lives.

6. Do you have any encounters with Colorado City?
I live in a small Town called Centennial Park which is located less than a mile south of Colorado City AZ and Hildale UT. I lived in Colorado City for a time and went to the public school there for several years. I know many people who live there and go there on almost a daily basis.
However I am not part of the infamous FLDS church. I am part of a less known and much smaller Polygamist organization.

7. Did you grow up in a polygamist family?
No I did not. I was born in Cancun Mexico I moved to centennial Park with My Parents when I was 10. My parents then split up and got remarried. However for the protection of my parents I will not tell you which live in a plural marriage.

8. Do you think everyone should do Polygamy?
Absolutely Not It takes a great amount of dedication to make a polygamous relationship work. Most people don’t have what it takes, even some who believe the same religion, (believing in the religion does not require that you live polygamy) can choose not to. And I most certainly don’t think that anyone should live polygamy that does not do it for the right reasons. Because Its people like that who give Polygamy a bad name.

9. Are Polygamists Christians?
Not necessarily. Many religions believe in polygamy not just fundamentalist Mormons.

10. How would you recommend the government change marriage laws?
I like Chris Weigant’s idea of how the Government should view marriage.
“I personally think the term “marriage” should be reserved for religion — each religious faith can decide however they want to define the term for themselves — and people should only be able to get a “civil union” from the government. The term “marriage” should be banned from any official government documents, and “civil union” replaced instead. A civil union should be all about financial ties. People entering into a civil union should be treated like a corporate merger — the civil union would spell out exactly what the financial consequences were, and no more.”

11. If the government allows plural marriage should they allow gay marriage?
I strongly believe that being Gay is wrong, however I also believe in the fundamental principle that human beings have the right to choose the way they want to live their lives. So yes I believe that gays should also be able to get married.

12. Are you persecuted for your beliefs?
For the most part no. the most I’ve ever been persecuted because of my beliefs was when I played on my high school basketball team. The Students at the other schools were always really hostile and there were several times that fights almost broke out. Not just with our players but also with our fans.

13. What is your take on HBO’s show Big Love?
I have never watched it but from what I’ve heard of big love, it sounds very interesting. Not only to see they way they portray plural marriage but also because many of the plots and story lines closely resemble real stories from real polygamists and polygamist groups.
For Example the Green Brothers in Big Love seem strangely like the LeBaron Brothers Ervil and Joel LeBaron who were the leaders of a polygamist organization from Mexico. Ervil LeBaron was the mastermind behind the murder of a man name Rullen Allred. Which is shockingly familiar to the shooting of Roman in big love.
Also in Big love Romans Polygamist group is called the U.E.B. ( United Effort Brotherhood) which is shockingly close to the real organization formerly ran by warren jeffs call the U.E.P ( United Effort Plan)

14. How does dating work in a Polygamist group?
I don’t know how it is looked at in other Polygamist groups but in mine it is frowned upon but not prohibited.

15. How do children interact with more than one mother?
As in monogamist families, polygamist families are all ran a little different. However I interact with my other mothers like I interact with a step mom or an aunt. I respect them, do what they say and love them but its still a different relationship than what I have with my “birth mother”.

http://www.meandpolygamy.wordpress.com

Kevin leBaron Lives in a small polygamist town in Arizona called Centennial Park. To find out more about kevin go to http://www.meandpolygamy.wordpress.com

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For those of you who might be judgemental - let me just explain. First of all, wife number one - Barbara married Bill with no plans to be part of a polygamist family. Bill was raised on “the compound” at Juniper Creek - where everyone lives “The Principle” - that is the polygamist lifestyle that is no longer accepted practice in the mainstream Mormon religion of today.

Read more at Ooh La La Mama’s Blog

It’s like the car accident that you drive by and you tell yourself that you really don’t want to see anything disturbing; really you don’t. Then why are you still looking? Why are you driving so slowly, carefully scanning the scene? There’s something about our psychological makeup that I’ll never understand. Take for instance the controversial HBO series, Big Love. When it premiered, the first Big Love episode drew 4.6 million viewers. Pretty impressive. We all wanted that glimpse into this mainstream polygamist family. Living in suburban Utah in adjacent houses, right under everyone’s nose? How could that be? Eager to be the proverbial fly on the wall, we wanted to learn everything from their financial situation to their bedroom arrangements. Many of us didn’t agree with it, but how could we look away? We couldn’t, and we don’t. We’re all hooked. Makes you kind of wonder what could be going on in your own little suburban neighborhood.

Read more at Big Love: Why We Love to Watch

I’m pretty middle of the road when it comes to having an open mind. Sometimes I have one, sometimes I don’t. It all depends on the situation. I watched the first episode with one eyebrow raised, I will admit that. But just like everyone else that‘s still watching, I’ve grown to love Viagra-popping Bill and his laundry list of constant problems.

Let’s see, he’s got mounting financial debt, three wives with all their jealousies and emotional needs, and an entirely illegal living arrangement that he is trying to keep under wraps. I thought I had problems! If this man doesn’t have some sort of mental or physical breakdown pretty soon, I’m going to be seriously surprised.

I can’t honestly say that I can even begin to understand why one man would want to be responsible for three different women, financially, sexually or otherwise. It makes me tired just to think of it. But along with the rest of America, I must admit that I’m hooked on HBO’s Big Love. It is definitely a “must watch”. From the racy sex scenes to the lies and seemingly constant dysfunction, I have to keep watching.

Like the reality shows of today, I suppose HBO’s Big Love helps us to understand and possibly, to even sympathize with something that at first glance we may have thought to be odd and unnatural. I think what we eventually learn is that people are people, regardless of their choices in life. I still think it’s odd and unnatural, but I’m definitely waiting for the next episode.

Star of Big Love Bill Paxton plays a polygamous businessman in the HBO drama series, however in real life, his heart belongs to only one woman–Louise Newbury, his wife with whom he has two children.
The 52-year-old actor said in an interview that their marriage has lasted for twenty years, and that he does not want to talk about it publicly because he finds “people who advertise themselves as virtuous family people usually get caught splitting up the next day.”

However, his commitment to his wife does not necessarily mean that he can’t or won’t admire other members of the opposite sex.

Actress Jeanne Tripplehorn, who currently plays one of Paxton’s three wives in Big Love, has caught Paxton’s eye when they were at a John Edwards fundraiser. This event was held a year before they became castmates in the drama series.

“I saw her across the room and wanted to meet her really badly,” Paxton said.

In real life, Paxton and Tripplehorn are close friends, however, things aren’t going so well between their characters in the show’s current season. Barbara Henrickson, the role played by Tripplehorn, has recently left her polygamous marriage in order to search for her identity.

Also in real life, Tripplehorn expressed her delight in being friends with Paxton’s wife, saying that she “genuinely adores” her. Tripplehorn has also been married for seven years to actor Leland Orser. They have one son named August who was born in 2002.

Polygamy isn’t the only one that’s not present in the Big Love stars’ marriages. Paxton said he is having difficulty giving his wife space when she needs to analyze her feelings, unlike his character, Bill, who can easily distance himself from Barbara when she needs time to think things over and sort through her personal issues.

“I can’t go to bed feeling (unresolved),” said Paxton. “(My wife) can harbor it a bit. She’ll give me the silent treatment, which drives me crazy.”
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For more resources about Big Love or for the full version of the story Bill Paxton Talks About Real-Life Marriage please review http://www.buddytv.com

Okay I admit it. I am a fan of HBO’s Big Love. Although I haven’t seen every episode I find it very entertaining for a variety of reasons none if which is to satisfy my curiosity. Okay, that isn’t true. I do want my curiosity satisfied. I was curious to see how polygamy was going to be portrayed on a widely watched network. I was curious to see how the influence of that show would ultimately affect the mainstream opinion about polygamy. But mostly I was curious to see elements of my childhood lifestyle, depicted by famous people on TV. The irony of seeing so many things that were meant to be kept secret openly displayed on an electronic device that was seen as mostly evil, is the object of much pleasure to me. The idea of peculiarity being popularized, that which is hidden exposed, I find to be a kind of therapy.

I don’t really mind that the show is off the mark on a lot of issues. Most of television is off the mark anyway and is used as a kind of amplifier rather than documentation. After all, it is meant to be entertaining and Big Love is certainly that. Besides, if you applied the same scrutiny to other shows I think you’d find much of the same result. The Sopranos for example, do not necessarily portray an exact mafia lifestyle anymore than Lost, depicts the true drama of being stranded on a deserted island.

I don’t find Big Love offensive in any way. In fact, I am grateful it is on the air and doing well. It gives society a reference point in which discussions about the issue of polygamy can be addressed. It is time for polygamy to come out of the closet and it is programs like Big Love and the stir of controversy that it creates, which will bring it out into the light. On that note, I would like to add my voice to this subject.

Polygamy is not about sex. I know, that is really hard to understand and most of you reading this will not believe it, so let me elucidate. Polygamy is about marriage. Most would agree that marriage is not about sex. Sex is a part of marriage, it is a vital part of marriage and it is a vital part of polygamy in the sense that it promotes the perpetuation of the family and that is a powerful motivating factor in a belief system where the family is the holiest of social structures. Polygamy is not the only way a man can have multiple relationships at the same time and certainly not the easiest way. So to say that it is all about how much sex a man can get is just narrow thinking and doesn’t say much about the one making the statement.

There is also another factor that must be considered. The vast majority of polygamists are practicing polygamy because of a religious mandate they call “The Law.” Everyone is not running helter skelter scooping up women for their sexual beds. And unlike Bill Hendrickson, the husband in Big Love, being able to sexually satisfy all your wives is not a great concern. Sex was not designed for intimacy and satisfaction but was designed solely for procreation. Intercourse is not permitted during pregnancy and with procreation being a high priority; you can imagine that there are a lot of women who are pregnant a lot of the time. The religious term for polygamy is “celestial marriage” and is viewed as a higher form of living, marriage according to the gods, if you will, while sex is considered lower or beastly. To make a TV program that depicts polygamy through a sexual lens is repugnant and offensive to most practicing polygamists and runs counter to their beliefs.

On the other hand, there is a broad range of characters who are practicing polygamists, some of them pretty shady. There are many who do not live chastely within the principle, and sex is often used as a power tool for gaining favor or manipulating others. Some men seek many wives for sexual perversion, tainting the holiness of “the law” for those whose aim is much higher. Some men have wandered from the organizations of polygamy and have gone their own way as independents, embracing polygamy and little else. There is no established and consistent foundation of beliefs. And many men have father/daughter roles with their wives which add to the dysfunction. Most of these men were born under polygamy and know nothing else but a single spectrum of marriage. A man who believes in polygamy is always practicing polygamy even if he has only one wife. Therefore to compare men who have only known polygamy to men of monogamy is ineffectual, misleading and unfair. Apples to oranges.

What of the women you say? Well, there are many women that are fierce proponents and advocates of polygamy and it is usually the women who support it publicly as well. And there are some advantages as one woman I know stated, “I have the best of two worlds, the freedom and independence of a single woman and the security and companionship of a married woman.” This is by far the minority and only those who practice polygamy with a liberal viewpoint know this as personal experience. The other minority are the women who feel totally abused and want to get out. Most are doing only what they know and believe, their happiness being of no consequence. To assume that all polygamous wives are secretly longing for life in the outside world and a monogamous marriage is as likely as all Christians secretly longing for Hinduism. Yes, it is that stark.

Big Love offers a glimpse into the potential thrills and hazards of life in polygamy but it is in no way a definitive description of the lifestyle. The religious depiction is laughable but there is an emotional integrity that makes the show compelling. There are probably a few families who identify with Bill Hendrickson and crew but most would not. So is Big Love fact or fiction? It’s a little of both, as all great entertainment ought to be.

Susanna Barlow is the 23rd child of 46 children, the quintessential middle child. Her fundamentalist religious upbringing shaped her life, her values, and her views on literally everything. Though no longer affiliated with polygamous groups on a religious level, she is surrounded by family & friends who practice polygamy. For more information, visit: http://www.susannabarlow.com

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