美猶他州4萬人生活在“一夫多妻”大家庭

With 17 of their 25 children still living at home, breakfast is a military operation for the Dargers.

As organized chaos unfolds at the family home in the Utah countryside outside Salt Lake City, the parents come to help out.

Alina is the first, followed by her "sister wives" Vicki and Valerie, and finally their husband Joe.

The Dargers are members of a polygamous marriage, a lifestyle they say is endorsed by their fundamentalist Mormon beliefs.

Joe married cousins Alina and Vicki in 1990. Ten years later, Vicki's twin sister Valerie joined them, after her first plural marriage broke down. She brought five children with her from that relationship.

The family has lived openly for several years now, even publishing a 2011 book entitled "Love Times Three".

But for a long time, Joe Darger says he worried that he might be arrested under the anti-polygamy laws in effect in the western US state.

"The fear when I went public four years ago, that fear was very real," he told AFP.

"This is a third degree felony... this is serious prison time. My grandfathers were imprisoned, so that was a real impact that we felt."

That fear has lifted for now, following a December ruling by a federal judge that struck down a key part of the state's anti-polygamy law as unconstitutional.

Judge Clark Waddoups ruled that legislation banning "unlawful cohabitation" was at odds with the constitutional right to freedom of religion.

Alina Darger, who herself works as a lawyer on cases involving polygamy, says the ruling was a relief.

"That's been one of the great things about the ruling -- the decriminalization, and the judge saying basically that the state needs to stay out of people’s bedrooms," she said.

"As long as it's adults freely choosing what they want, then I don't feel it would be my place to tell somebody else you can't choose to love who you love."

But what the Dargers see as unwarranted government intrusion, others see as essential for the protection of women and children.

Marion Munn moved to Utah from Britain after converting to a fundamentalist Mormon faith, and says she was part of a polygamous relationship for 18 years.

"The only way that I can explain it is like living with adultery on a daily basis, and having the woman come home," Munn said.

"On top of that you have to smile and pretend that everything's okay because that's part of the culture too."

She now argues that such marriages are inherently unequal, and often aren't entered into freely.

"Certainly within Mormon-based polygamy, it's not really much of a choice, because Mormon scriptures teach a woman that if she doesn't consent to living in polygamy, God's going to destroy her," Munn explained.

"So for me going into it, I didn't personally want to live it, but I felt compelled to as a matter of faith."

While the practice may work for the Dargers, a 2011 University of British Columbia study found polygamy causes greater levels of crime, violence, poverty and gender inequality in communities that practice it.

The United Nations has called for a ban, while polygamy has been at the center of notorious cases such as that of Warren Jeffs, the fundamentalist Mormon leader sentenced to life in prison for child sexual assault in 2011.

The main branch of the Mormon faith -- the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints -- renounced the practice of polygamy in the 1890s under pressure from the US government.

While some offshoots of the religion continue the practice, exact numbers are hard to come by. Some estimates say that around 40,000 Utah residents live in plural marriages.

Utah's Attorney General Sean Reyes has yet to say whether he will challenge the federal court ruling on polygamy.

The state is also currently fighting to enforce a ban on gay marriage, which was ruled illegal in December by another federal judge.爲數十個孩子準備早餐，工作量不可謂不巨大。不過，居住在美國猶他州鹽湖城市郊的達格爾一家早已習慣這種有序的混亂場面。據法國媒體2月9日報道，這是一個典型的“一夫多妻”大家庭，而在猶他州，許多人認同並加入達格爾一家的行列。

迫於美國政府施加的壓力，摩門教主要分支——耶穌基督後期聖徒教會——早在19世紀90年代就不再要求信徒奉行一夫多妻制，但仍有部分其他分支繼續堅持。據估計，在猶他州，大約有4萬人生活在一夫多妻制的大家庭中，達格爾一家包括其中。

1990年，喬•達格爾與阿林娜和維姬結婚。十年之後，維姬的雙胞胎姐妹瓦萊麗加入了這個家庭，當時她剛剛結束另一段一夫多妻的婚姻關係。

此後，喬和三位妻子公開生活在一起，並養育了25個孩子，目前還有17個跟他們住在同一個屋檐下。2011年，他們出版了一本名爲《愛乘以三》（Love Times Three）的書，向外界講述獨特的一夫多妻家庭生活。

喬說，他們選擇的這種生活方式，是其信仰的摩門教原教旨主義所贊同並推崇的。儘管如此，長久以來，喬還是擔心自己會因違反猶他州的反一夫多妻制法律而被逮捕，“畢竟這是三級重罪、需入獄服刑，我的祖父曾經因此坐過牢，我真的感到害怕”。

然而去年12月，美國一位聯邦法官裁定猶他州反一夫多妻制法律的核心內容違憲，即其中禁止“非法同居”的條款違背了憲法對公民宗教自由權的保護。此後，喬心中的恐懼感消失大半。

喬的妻子阿林娜是一名律師，她曾處理過多起涉及到一夫多妻制的案件。“聯邦法官的裁決帶來許多積極影響，（一夫多妻）合法化是其中之一。”阿林娜認爲，從根本上說，這意味着法律支持“國家需遠離人們的臥室”。

對於一夫多妻的生活模式，達格爾一家適應甚至樂在其中。但也有人持不同看法。信奉摩門教原教旨主義後，瑪麗昂•芒恩離開英國、來到猶他州定居，她曾經保持過一段長達18年的一夫多妻婚姻關係。

“我只能說，一夫多妻感覺就像通姦，並且還需要與其他通姦者生活在一起。”芒恩現在意識到，一夫多妻的婚姻關係是不平等的，而且帶有強迫性，“對於信奉摩門教原教旨主義的女性而言，一夫多妻不是一個選擇，而是必須要做的事情。教義中寫道，一旦違背，上帝就會摧毀她。”