There are thousands, probably tens of thousands, of polygamists in the United States who live secret lives because they don't want to be subject to arrest and prosecution. One of the consequences of such secrecy is that any abuses which might otherwise occur in a polygamous relationship are magnified - after all, people can't really go to the authorities to complain.

One woman, Mary Ann Kingston, is fighting back by suing, as the San Francisco Chronicle explains:

Mary Ann Kingston, now 22, filed the suit in state court Aug. 1, naming 242 family members and 97 businesses operated by the group in and around the Salt Lake Valley. The suit seeks more than $110 million from what Mary Ann Kingston called a "secretive religious society and economic organization" that teaches and promotes sexual abuse of young girls through illegal and underage marriages, incest and polygamy.

"I am pursuing this lawsuit with the hope that other young girls and boys in the same position that I was in will see that the leaders of the Kingston organization are not above the law, even though they tell us that they are," Kingston said. "I also hope that the people that we are bringing this lawsuit against, will realize the harm they have caused and continue to cause and that they will change their ways."

I wonder if she will be successful? She has a lot of courage for bringing all of this out into the light and exposing the various abuses and excesses.

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