Polygamous trio applies for wedding license

A Montana polygamist is citing last week’s United States gay marriage ruling as he argues he should be legally allowed to have a second wife.

The Colliers say that if the state of Montana could only recognize their marriage as legal, it could be the catalyst for other states to follow suit.

The Colliers were initially denied the license, the clerk later returned saying they would have to check with the attorney general’s office.

CBS reports that Nathan Collier, 46, was “inspired” by the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage. He referenced the dissent penned by Chief Justice John Roberts, which said, “Much of the majority’s reasoning would apply with equal force to the claim of a fundamental right to plural marriage”. In 2007, Collier and Christine again had a religious ceremony, and Christine joined Victoria and Collier in their home.

The Collier family earlier this year appeared in an episode of TLC’s reality show Sister Wives. Though bigamy is still “illegal” in Utah, a federal judge struck down parts of Utah’s anti-polygamy law two years ago. Of course fundamentalist polygamous relationships exist today-they are not, however, non-violent relations between consenting adults, and such fundamentalist groups usually find themselves running afoul of many laws, the laws against polygamy the least serious of them.

On Tuesday, Nathan and Christine traveled to the Yellowstone County Courthouse to see if they would be awarded the right to marry under the Marriage Equality Act. He’s already married to Vicki. Collier is hoping to change all of that.

The way Collier, Victoria, and Christine were treated at the courthouse made the family feel “violated”, Collier said.

Gillen told Collier that he would have an answer for him by next week.

“We just want to add legal legitimacy to an already happy, strong, loving family”, Nathan told the station. “Let us live our lives together without fear”, said Nathan Collier. My second wife Christine, who I’m not legally married to, she’s put up with my crap for a lot of years. “We just want to give our marriage and our family the legitimacy that it deserves”, said Nathan.

“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”.