The Man Who Sought a Second
Marriage License in the Name
of ‘Marriage Equality’ Finally
Has His Answer
Nathan Collier made news earlier this month when he approached Montana courts and asked them to recognize his polygamous union with two women, Victoria Collier and Christine Collier.
He even said that, were the courts to fail to recognize the union, he would file a lawsuit.
Well, the verdict is in.
Montana’s Yellowstone County Attorney’s Office will not grant Nathan Collier a legally binding marriage to two different women.
The Colliers filed the motion based on the Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage throughout the country.
Nathan Collier explained his family’s reasoning when he spoke to KRTV:
“We just want to add legal legitimacy to an already happy, strong, loving family,” he said.
Attorney Kevin Gillen struck down the request in no uncertain terms, as seen in the refusal letter he drafted for the state:
“I am not in the business of speculating as to what types of consequences (and new laws) may flow from the recent Supreme Court case,” he wrote.“However, until such time that laws change, the law of the State of Montana is that bigamy and polygamy are illegal arrangements and, consequently, the Yellowstone County Clerk of District Court is unable to issue such a marriage license.”
One of the wives, Christine Collier, said she was disappointed but expected this outcome:
“We kind of anticipated that the answer would be no,” said Christine. “It was predictable based on how the laws are written. There’s no distinction between polygamy and bigamy in the written law. To us, polygamy is consensual, where bigamy would be non-consensual.”
Vicki Collier added that the family was heartbroken over the decision:
“This affects people’s lives. It was heartbreaking, and I tried to prepare Christine for that because there’s always that small glimmer of hope.”
The family says that their next step is to pursue legal action.
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