In polygamous homes, it is not just the women who face incredible abuse. Children are left unprotected—and they even become victims of the very people who are supposed to be protecting them.

The Senate is a few votes from passing a bill that will throw the door wide open to polygamy. This week, 12 multinational corporations sent their lobbyists to pressure senators to vote for HR 8404.

For Rena Mackert, abuse began at age 3. Her polygamous father molested her and forced her to perform oral actions on him. “I cried and begged and pleaded. He slapped me and pulled my hair,” the former Utah woman said in a video affidavit. “When I choked and threw up, he spanked me and told me what a bad girl I was, to be quiet, that if I told anyone what a bad girl I was, he would have to spank me very severely.”

To Rena, it was clear she “had done something to cause my priestly father to do those things.”

The abuse children are facing is stomach-churning. But that was just the beginning for Rena, who was living in a polygamous community. Men in these communities are not prosecuted in Utah. However, there is a federal bill that will force all states and territories to give honor to and recognize the so-called “marriages” of any one state.

This bill never limits how many marriages one person can be in at the same time! Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Susan Collins (R-ME) admit this loophole is in the bill.

I need your help to stop the “(Dis)Respect of Marriage Act.” Rush urgent faxes to the Senate to stop HR 8404. — Mat

As the 13th of 31 children, Rena was desperate for her parents’ attention. Her father’s abuse continued until she was 16. The following year, her parents told her she was to marry. Her mother asked: “Don’t you want to know who you are marrying?” She didn’t want to get married at all.

When they said she would marry “John,” she asked, “Which John?” It was her stepbrother—when everyone knew the two of them despised each other. “It was like a knife stabbed through my heart,” Rena said. “There was no love lost.” She didn’t have any say in the matter. After all the abuse and pain that she experienced, this was intolerable.

The night before her wedding, Rena’s father asked if there was anything he needed to “teach” her before her wedding night. She was terrified. Marrying her stepbrother, Rena would never get away from her father.

Rena was trapped in incredible abuse. There is almost no way to escape! And this abuse will be promoted and expanded by a bill that will be voted on soon by our U.S. senators!

The Senate already has set a date to vote on the (Dis)Respect for Marriage Act. It will impose same-sex marriage on the nation and nationalize child bride marriages, and even polygamy. Send your urgent faxes to the Senate to stop HR 8404.

Some senators simply view this bill as “codifying same-sex marriage,” which is bad enough. However, HR 8404 has many far-reaching implications, including pedophiliac marriage, same-sex, child-bride, incest, polygamous and any other perversion of marriage.

Five years, and three children later, Rena’s church leader forced her to divorce when her husband declared he wanted out of the polygamous lifestyle. Instead, she was to marry the church leader’s brother who was approaching 60 years old. Rena was just 23. And this man was already married to Rena’s sister, who was his sixth wife.

Rena’s sister described her life in that home this way: “Every day of my life was a competition for his resources,” she states. “There was a lot of back-stabbing and scratching and clawing — emotionally and verbally, not physically.” Rena wanted nothing to do with her sister’s husband.

For the first time, Rena refused the church and rejected marrying a man over twice her age. The consequences were brutal. She was berated repeatedly and disowned. Rena’s own three children were taken away and left in the “care” of the man who abused her as a child, her father.

She didn’t even think to call the police. She didn’t even know she had legal custody over her own children. She tried to see her children for two months. Her kids were told she didn’t want them and that she abandoned them. Rena said “[t]hey did horrific things to my children” in the 11 months it took for her to learn how she could legally rescue them.

“This is not about religious freedom. This is about abuse — there was sexual abuse in just about every home,” Rena told reporters. This is beyond sick.

U.S. senators, supported by multinational pro-LGBTQ corporations, will soon vote on HR 8404 to encourage the abuse Rena faced. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) only needs a few more votes to pass this bill.

Your faxes and petitions along with our personal contact are already having an impact. We have a short window. Tell as many senators as you can to block this bill! Click here to send your faxes now and keep reading to get a chilling glimpse into what we are fighting.

Rena had to leave everything to escape to save herself and her children. The shame, attacks and shunning for doing so was crushing. While Rena has hope for herself and her children, thousands more are still left in bondage.

This is disturbing, to say the least. If the Senate passes the “Respect for Marriage Act” (HR 8404), it will expand this polygamous abuse nationally.

Without you, NONE of our work is possible. Thanks to generous supporters, our Challenge Grant will effectively DOUBLE YOUR DONATION. PLEASE, be a part of the blessing today by selecting here.

Mat Staver, Chairman
Liberty Counsel Action

P.S. Prefer a petition instead of a fax? Select here.

Sources:

Keller, James. “‘The Face of Polygamy:’ Woman Recounts Abusive Childhood for B.C. Court.” Toronto Star, December 8, 2010. Thestar.com/news/canada/2010/12/08/the_face_of_polygamy_woman_recounts_abusive_childhood_for_bc_court.html.

Mackert, Rena. “Canada Polygamy Study Rena Mackert Interview.” Youtube Channel - Polygamy: What Love Is This? January 19, 2015. Youtube.com/watch?v=U-UoC2HkzKA.