Written by:
Kim Burgess
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this Issue of Curve:
Vol. 17#1
Lesbian mystery writer Jennifer Fulton, aka Rose Beecham, is an unlikely fan of HBO’s Big Love. "People think I must hate the show, but I think it’s very well written," she says. "I just hope everyone watching knows that fiction is fiction."
Fulton speaks from personal experience. While researching the novel Grave Silence, she went undercover, posing as a fundamentalist Mormon widow searching for a new husband — and the wives that would naturally come with him.
The ruse got her inside one of America’s most notorious polygamist groups, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, headquartered in the neighboring Southern Utah towns of Hildale and Colorado City. They are places out of time, where women dress in pioneer dresses and bake bread for herds of children-often over 10 per woman.
CURVE had the opportunity to sit down with Fulton and discuss more of what she witnessed in this "Taliban-like culture."
You infiltrated a polygamous community. Describe the treatment of women that you observed.
The woman I spent the most time with was the oldest of the wives and the first wife [in the family]. She had complete say over what the other wives did. That was the principle they followed. If anyone didn’t do a chore within the time frame they were supposed to do it, she would slap them. The wives she disliked, she gave them the worst jobs and bullied them incessantly. One she would kick. There was no sense that this was unjust or not appropriate. She also decided who slept with her husband. She would punish wives by withholding that. The pillow access was very important because it gave a wife time to lobby the husband for what she wanted.
What are your opinions on legalizing polygamy?
I think we need to keep a firm grip on the reality rather than the theory when we talk about this. I don’t know how a brainwashed teenaged girl who knows nothing about the outside world can consent to a 70-year-old man. Making it legal doesn’t remove that issue. The Big Love crowd, which is what these people like to focus on, is the nice side of polygamy. Legalizing that one means legalizing the ugly side, which is what I saw. It would be handing a free pass to people who live a cult lifestyle. … These men have been getting away with rape, beatings, tax evasions and weapons charges for years.
What attitudes toward gay people did you see?
They hate gay people. It’s almost inconceivable to them that there would be gayness because everything is about marriage and procreation. That is something I heard out of their mouths.
I did see bonds between women, but I don’t think those bonds are lesbian. I don’t think these women are aware of lesbianism. … If something like that were to come out, people would be shocked and appalled. Those women would probably be separated or kicked out.
What do you think about polygamists aligning themselves same-sex marriage activists?
It’s hypocrisy on the part of the polygamists. Plus, we want marriage rights that everyone has, not a new set or rights that no one has. Heterosexual polygamists aren’t prevented from marrying, they just want more than that basic right. I think we are at risk of degrading the human rights and constitutional core of our case if we blur those. Our case is hard to deny because it’s based on human rights and constitutional rights. Of course, they will always wheel out their handmaidens as examples of how happy women are there. And we’ll hear deafening silence from the rest of them because they don’t even know what was going on. The women I encountered knew nothing. They didn’t know the name of the president. They didn’t know we’d invaded Iraq. I don’t think people in that position can give informed consent. That’s what made me change my idea about this whole thing. I don’t care about polyamory. I think the government should stay out of our bedroom. This is the enslavement of a group of people by another.
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