What is Principle Voices?
1. We are an education and advocacy organization on behalf of polygamous famlies and members of the Fundamentalist Mormon culture. We are a non-profit organization, not a religious entity. Our advisory board is predominantly from outside the culture and is comprised of professionals from a variety of fields, including legal, medical and NGO’s. Our steering committee, the Principle Rights Coalition, consists of representives from each of the major fundamentalist communities (except FLDS) as well as independents.
2. We emphasize the fact that there is a wide diversity among Fundamentalist Mormons; they are not a single homogenous body. They have varying beliefs, practices, claims of priesthood authority, and organizational structures. Some belong to organized groups, and many consider themselves to be Independent Fundamentalist Mormons, belonging to no official groups beyond that of their extended family. This is similar to the different Christian churches of today, i.e., Methodists, Lutherans, Baptists, Catholics, etc.
3. We collaborate with the Utah and Arizona Safety net, which is comprised of a variety of government and non-government organizations as well as representatives of different polygamous groups. We also deal with human services and legal issues.
4. We do not support abuse in any form, nor do we condone underage marriages or incest. Our position is that consenting adults should have the right to arrange their families as they see fit. Our organization supports the rights of consenting adults to choose whether or not to live in a polygamous family, including the right to leave bad marriages or believe differently.
5. We have provided trainings for the domestic violence hotline, law enforcement, lawyers, social workers, child advocates, etc., to help them understand the polygamous culture and family dynamics. We have also brought social workers, domestic violence workers, therapists and medical doctors into various polygamous communities to teach about abuse, domestic violence, medical issues, etc.
6. We helped to organize a support group for women from the polygamous culture, led by qualified and experienced therapists familiar with our culture.
7. We make every effort to distinguish ourselves from the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which abandoned polygamy beginning with the Manifesto of 1890. However, the practice quietly continued in the Church even beyond the 1904 second manifesto.
8. We have a speaker’s bureau and are available to be of service to any individuals or organizations that have an interest in our culture - by providing training, education presentations, information handouts, etc.
Mary Batchelor, Executive Director Anne Wilde, Community Relations
principlevoices at comcast.net anne at principlevoices.org
