question: Why is polygamy [still] illegal in the USA, given the requirement for church/state separation and all the other marriage-related freedoms being granted recently?
comment: Marriage law reforms happens when enough people say “it’s time to change these laws”. Not enough have have said that they want these laws changed to allow polygamy.
passages: BULLET::::- [[Hildale, Utah]]
  
  BULLET::::- [[Manti, Utah]]
  
  BULLET::::- [[Rocky Ridge, Utah]]
  
  BULLET::::- [[Sanpete Valley]], Utah
  
  BULLET::::- [[Modena, Utah]]
  
  BULLET::::- [[Eldorado, Texas]]
  
  BULLET::::- [[Preston, Nevada]]
  
  BULLET::::- [[Lund, Nevada]]
  
  Section::::Recent polygamy cases.
   Since only one wife is officially married to the husband at any one time, no law is being broken and so this type of polygamous family unit can be overt about their relationship. The conviction of [[Thomas Arthur Green]] in 2001 may have made the legal status of such relationships more precarious in Utah, although Green's bigamy convictions were made possible only by his own public statements.
  
  Section::::Latter Day Saint fundamentalism.:Polygamy today.
   Polygamy (or bigamy) is illegal in all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Bigamy is punishable by a fine, imprisonment, or both, according to the law of the individual state and the circumstances of the offense. Because state laws exist, polygamy is not actively prosecuted at the federal level, but the practice is considered "against public policy" and, accordingly, the U.S. government does not recognize bigamous marriages for immigration purposes (that is, would not allow one of the spouses to petition for immigration benefits for the other), even if they are legal in the country where a bigamous marriage was celebrated. Any immigrant coming to the United States to practice polygamy will not be admitted.
   Section::::Countries that do not recognize polygamous marriages.:Asia.:Illegal "de jure" but still practiced.
  
  BULLET::::- Cambodia
  
  BULLET::::- Israel: polygamy was criminalized in 1977, but the law is not consistently enforced and polygamy is still practiced by Israeli Bedouins.
  
  BULLET::::- Kazakhstan
  
  BULLET::::- Laos
   BULLET::::- Uruguay
  
  BULLET::::- Venezuela
  
  Section::::Countries that do not recognize polygamous marriages.:Asia.
  
  BULLET::::- India
  
  BULLET::::- China: Polygamy is illegal under Marriage Law passed in 1980. This replaced a similar 1950 prohibition. In Hong Kong, polygamy ended with the passing of the Marriage Act of 1971.
  
  BULLET::::- Japan
  
  BULLET::::- Kyrgyzstan
  
  BULLET::::- Mongolia
  
  BULLET::::- Myanmar
  
  BULLET::::- North Korea
  
  BULLET::::- South Korea
  
  BULLET::::- Taiwan: Polygamy is illegal by the 1930 ROC civil law.
  
  BULLET::::- Tajikistan
   BULLET::::- Romania: Bigamy, defined as marriage conducted by a person which is already married, is punishable by up to 2 years in prison or fine. Knowingly marrying a married person is punishable by up to 1 year in prison or by fine.
  
  BULLET::::- Russian Federation
  
  BULLET::::- San Marino
  
  BULLET::::- Serbia
  
  BULLET::::- Slovakia
  
  BULLET::::- Slovenia
  
  BULLET::::- Spain
   Individualist feminism and advocates such as Wendy McElroy and journalist Jillian Keenan support the freedom for adults to voluntarily enter polygamous marriages.
  
  Authors such as Alyssa Rower and Samantha Slark argue that there is a case for legalizing polygamy on the basis of regulation and monitoring of the practice, legally protecting the polygamous partners and allowing them to join mainstream society instead of forcing them to hide from it when any public situation arises.
   BULLET::::- Chile
  
  BULLET::::- Colombia
  
  BULLET::::- Costa Rica
  
  BULLET::::- Cuba
  
  BULLET::::- Dominica
  
  BULLET::::- Dominican Republic
  
  BULLET::::- Ecuador
  
  BULLET::::- El Salvador
  
  BULLET::::- Grenada
  
  BULLET::::- Guatemala
  
  BULLET::::- Guyana
  
  BULLET::::- Haiti
  
  BULLET::::- Honduras
  
  BULLET::::- Jamaica
  
  BULLET::::- Mexico
  
  BULLET::::- Nicaragua
  
  BULLET::::- Panama
  
  BULLET::::- Paraguay
  
  BULLET::::- Peru
  
  BULLET::::- St. Kitts and Nevis
  
  BULLET::::- St. Lucia
  
  BULLET::::- St. Vincent and The Grenadines
  
  BULLET::::- Suriname
  
  BULLET::::- Trinidad and Tobago
   Section::::Legalization.:Canada.
   BULLET::::- United States: Polygamy is illegal in all 50 states but not federally. From about 1847 to 1857, in what is now the state of Utah, many Mormons practiced polygamy, which was widely condemned in the rest of the US. The US federal government threatened The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and made polygamy illegal through the enforcement of Acts of Congress such as the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act. The LDS Church formally outlawed the practice in 1890, in a document labeled 'The Manifesto'. Small splinter groups from the LDS Church, such as Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the Apostolic United Brethren still practice polygamy and awareness has been increased through television dramas such as Big Love and reality shows such as Sister Wives. Among American Muslims, a small minority of around 50,000 to 100,000 people are estimated to live in families with a husband maintaining an informal polygamous relationship.
   A 2005 report by the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre recommended that Canada decriminalize polygamy, stating: "Criminalization is not the most effective way of dealing with gender inequality in polygamous and plural union relationships. Furthermore, it may violate the constitutional rights of the parties involved."
  
  Section::::Canada.:British Columbia.
   The 1988 Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Communion ruled that polygamy was permissible in certain circumstances:
  
  Section::::Contemporary religious attitudes to polygamy.:Latter Day Saint movement.
   The United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand permit some benefits for spouses of polygamous marriages performed abroad. On a case-by-case basis, Sweden recognizes polygamous marriages performed abroad but without giving residence or social security rights to other spouses. In Switzerland polygamous marriages conducted abroad may be accepted or rejected on a case-by-case basis; see § Europe. In the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, which allows simultaneous, additional marital rights and obligations for already married persons, prior to married persons becoming divorced from their existing spouse.
   BULLET::::- Sweden: Sweden recognizes polygamous marriages performed abroad, and all spouses are subsequently registered as spouses in the population register, but other spouses than the first spouse may not always be recognized in all occasions. Only the first spouse is recognized as a spouse when decisions are made on residence permits and social security. A Swede may have four spouses registered at most.
  
  BULLET::::- Switzerland: Polygamy is illegal by law. But polygamous marriage conducted in another country may be accepted or rejected on a case-by-case basis.
  
  BULLET::::- Ukraine
   Authors such as Alyssa Rower and Samantha Slark argue that there is a case for legalizing polygamy on the basis of regulation and monitoring of the practice, legally protecting the polygamous partners and allowing them to join mainstream society instead of forcing them to hide from it when any public situation arises.
   BULLET::::- 1856 – The platform of the Republican Party refers to polygamy as one of the "twin relics of barbarism" (alongside slavery). At the time, polygamy was a practice of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). (See Mormonism and polygamy.)
  
  BULLET::::- 1862 – The Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act makes bigamy in the territories a felony punishable by a $500 fine or five years in prison.
  
  BULLET::::- 1873 – In "Bradwell v. Illinois" the Supreme Court rules that a state has the right to exclude a married woman from practicing law.
   Polygamy is the act or condition of a person marrying another person while still being lawfully married to another spouse. As this is the very definition of bigamy, it is illegal in the United States. The crime is punishable by a fine, imprisonment, or both, according to the law of the individual state and the circumstances of the offense. Polygamy was outlawed federally by the Edmunds Act, and there are laws against the practice in all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Because state laws exist, polygamy is not actively prosecuted at the federal level, but the practice is considered "against public policy" and, accordingly, the U.S. government does not recognize bigamous marriages for immigration purposes (that is, would not allow one of the spouses to petition for immigration benefits for the other), even if they are legal in the country where the bigamous marriage was celebrated. Any immigrant who is coming to the United States to practice polygamy is inadmissible.
   BULLET::::- Thailand: Prior to October 1, 1935, polygamy in Thailand could be freely practiced and recognised under civil law. Since its abolition, it is still practiced and widely accepted in Thailand, though no longer recognised, as the law states "A man or a woman cannot marry each other while one of them has a spouse."
  
  BULLET::::- Tunisia: Illegal. Up to 5 years imprisonment.
  
  BULLET::::- Turkey: Illegal. Up to 5 years imprisonment.
  
  BULLET::::- United Kingdom: Illegal, although marriages performed abroad may be recognised for some legal purposes (see "Polygamy in the United Kingdom").
   Many societies, even some with a cultural tradition of polygamy, recognize monogamy as the only valid form of marriage. For example, People's Republic of China shifted from allowing polygamy to supporting only monogamy in the Marriage Act of 1953 after the Communist revolution.
  
  Many African and Islamic societies still allow polygamy. Africa has the highest rate of polygamy in the world. In Senegal, for example, nearly 47 percent of marriages are multiple. In India, only Muslims are allowed to practice polygamy.
  
  Section::::State recognition.
   BULLET::::- Singapore
  
  BULLET::::- India
  
  Section::::Countries that do not recognize polygamous marriages.
  
  Section::::Countries that do not recognize polygamous marriages.:Africa.
  
  BULLET::::- Benin
  
  BULLET::::- Côte d'Ivoire: Polygamy may be punishable by six months to three years imprisonment, or a fine of CFA 50,000 to CFA 500,000 (US$80 to US$800).
  
  BULLET::::- Eritrea: Illegal since 1977, after 2015 polygamy is punishable with "a definite term of imprisonment of not less than 6 months and not more than 12 months, or a fine of 20,001 – 50,000 Nakfas."
  
  BULLET::::- Ethiopia
  
  BULLET::::- Seychelles
  
  BULLET::::- Tunisia, where it has been banned since 1956
   BULLET::::- United Kingdom: Foreign polygamous marriages grant some welfare benefits only, but this is being phased out with the introduction of Universal Credit. Polygamy is treated as bigamy if a second marriage (or civil partnership) is contracted in the United Kingdom. No legal recognition is extended to spouses of subsequent marriages after the first marriage is recognised even when subsequent marriages are contracted abroad.
  
  BULLET::::- Vatican City (Holy See)
  
  Section::::Countries that do not recognize polygamous marriages.:Oceania.
   BULLET::::- Turkey: Polygamy was criminalized in 1926 with the adoption of the Turkish Civil Code, part of Atatürk's secularist reforms. Penalties for illegal polygamy are up to 5 years imprisonment. Turkey has long been known for its promotion of secularism, and has introduced measures establishing stricter bars against polygamy; these were passed by the ruling moderate Islamist AK Parti as well. In March 2009, AK Parti effectively banned polygamists from entering or living in the country.
  
  BULLET::::- Turkmenistan
  
  BULLET::::- Uzbekistan
  
  BULLET::::- Vietnam
  
  Section::::Countries that do not recognize polygamous marriages.:Asia.:Under customary law.
  
  BULLET::::- Palestine
   Legality of polygamy
  
  The legality of polygamy varies widely around the world. Polygamy is legal in 58 out of nearly 200 sovereign states, the vast majority of them being Muslim-majority countries situated in Africa and Asia. In most of these states, polygyny is allowed and legally sanctioned. Polyandry is illegal in virtually every state in the world. The rest of the sovereign states do not recognize polygamous marriages.
  
  Section::::Countries that recognize polygamous marriages.
  
  Section::::Countries that recognize polygamous marriages.:Africa.
  
  BULLET::::- Algeria
  
  BULLET::::- Cameroon
  
  BULLET::::- Chad
  
  BULLET::::- Central African Republic
  
  BULLET::::- Republic of the Congo
  
  BULLET::::- Djibouti
  
  BULLET::::- Egypt
   Advocacy for full legalisation of polygamy in New Zealand has come from some libertarian individuals and from individual members of non-Christian religious groups. However, polygamy has little public support among New Zealanders, and no major political party has endorsed its legalisation.
  
  Section::::History.
   Under U.S. law any person who wishes to immigrate to the U.S. but practices, or intends to practice, polygamy is denied entrance. Regardless of the legality of the plural marriage in the country of origin, the U.S. government will only recognize one marriage thus, a man with multiple wives can only sponsor one wife who wishes to immigrate to the U.S. If a man who practiced polygamy in his maternal country wishes to sponsor more than one wife he must divorce the wife in the U.S first. Any women who succeeds in avoiding the bar on polygamy is denied basic legal rights regarding marriage, divorce, and financial support. The denial of these rights "perpetuates the cycle of 'abuse and exploitation' that is sometimes synonymous with modern-day polygamy". Polygamy often puts extra, strenuous responsibilities on women. Many argue that polygamous relationships deny certain rights to women and degrade their value
  