If a man from Saudi Arabia has 4 wives (legal in that country) emigrates to the United States, are his wives legally recognized as wives in the United States?

NO, marriage that is illegal under the state law that they move to, would not be recognized. The first wife would be considered his wife, the others not.

Same with other marriage such as same sex, they are not honored in states where those are not legal.

There is no "federal" marriage laws, each state has their own laws. At this time, no US state allows more than one marriage.

State law here may not recognize all those wives as being legal, but that has never stopped anyone from doing as they please within there own household, or community.

No were within the US, is multiple marriage allowed. There are laws against it and those marriage would not be recognized.

You have received the answer to your question.

I moved this from marriage to member discussion which is the appropriate place for debate.

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Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

Same with other marriage such as same sex, they are not honored in states where those are not legal.

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Which raises an interesting dilemma. Suppose a gay couple gets married in NY, where it is legal. Then they move to TX (why a gay couple would want to move to TX is a bit of a mystery, but bear with me on this). Later they have a falling out, and decide to get a divorce. But they can't - since TX doesn't recognize their marriage, TX can't grant them a divorce. So they just split up. Later one of the pair falls in love with a person of the opposite sex and they decide to get married. Can they? In TX - yes. In NY - no, as that would be bigamy. So this means that TX enables bigamists - right?

Yes a hard issue, When they move to Texas ( again why) Texas does not allow or honor gay marriage from another state, so by Texas law they are not married. So agree.

Also, they can't get married in Texas, since they don't allow it, so it is not bigamy. They would either have to file for divorce where they were married.

Also an issue that is likely to come up, I will assume or guess I bet there will be many issues in the divorce code and divorce court that will not always fit gay couples, can't think of it right now, but I am sure there will be come come up.

Half the people who get married, get divorced, and many have multiple marriages, so I fail to see the argument against gay marriage. To be honest, I fail to see why a gay couple would put themselves through the hassles of marriage.

This coming from a guy who has been married to the same person for decades. Live and let live, and call your God by any name you want, on any day you want.

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Originally Posted by talaniman

To be honest, I fail to see why a gay couple would put themselves thru the hassles of marriage.

This coming from a guy who has been married to the same person for decades.

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So Talaniman - why did you decide to put yourself through the "hassles" of marriage all those years ago?

I'm sure whatever your answer to that question could just as well apply to a gay couple who desire to be married.

As a Christian it is the gay life style and acts of sex that I am against. that battle was lost years ago.
If or if not the government issues a license for marriage has no real bearing on the church or its faith,as long as they are not required to do the services.

I have wished them all the pain and all the cost of marriage and divorce for years. They get to just play married and then walk away when it does not work. They should have to start having the liability of paying the other party, alimony, child support and more. Division of property and so on.

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Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

If or if not the government issues a license for marriage has no real bearing on the church or its faith,as long as they are not required to do the services.

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Absolutely right! I don't know any advocates of gay marriage who would disagree with this.

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Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

I have wished them all the pain and all the cost of marriage and divorce for years. They get to just play married and then walk away when it does not work. They should have to start having the liability of paying the other party, alimony, child support and more. Division of property and so on.

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Again - absolutely correct. They should also have the equivalent rights that are conferred by the state, do you agree? Such as ability to file taxes jointly, inherit property, be considered as "surviving spouse" for social security benefits, make medical decisions as "next of kin," etc.