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The first of a dozen FDLS members accused of the sexual abuse will go on trial today. Raymond Jessop faces up to 20 years for his "marriage" to an underage girl. [MSNBC] More »
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Here we are, worried about the sexualization of 15-year-old Miley Cyrus, when 31 out of 53 girls from the ages of 14-17 from the Yearning For Zion ranch are pregnant or already have children. Although the polygamist Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints have been claiming that they do not marry off 13 and 14 year old girls to older men, the number of very young yet pregnant girls seems to refute these claims. What's more, there are 53 girls ages 14-17 who were taken from the ranch, while only 17 boys in that age group were living with the sect. (The gender divisions in children under 14 were about 50/50.) This gives credence to the tales of "lost boys" of the FDLS: adolescent males who were exiled from the sect to keep the gender imbalance favorable for polygamous unions. More »
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The number of Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints in Texas custody has now reached 460, following the state's decision yesterday that 25 mothers under the age of 18 should not be returned to the FDLS compound, Yearning For Zion. As previously reported, Texas officials raided the YFZ ranch after a tip — allegedly from a 16-year-old inside the compound named Sarah Jessop Barlow — regarding widespread child abuse. Although Sarah has yet to be located (and some believe that "Sarah" is really Rozita Swinton, a pathological liar with an FDLS obsession), Reuters reports that "Texas welfare and law enforcement officials say they have uncovered evidence of widespread child abuse on the grounds, with adolescent girls being forced into unions with much older men." Mothers over the age of 18 were sent home yesterday from the temporary shelter where their children are being held. More »
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A group of representatives from the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints went on Today this morning to answer some of Meredith Vieira's questions about polygamy, child abuse, and poofy hairstyles, except they didn't actually give many answers, evading Vieira's queries with skill of a veteran politician. When asked if they think having sex with a 13-year-old girl is child abuse, one of the men answered, "I would never do such a thing," effectively skirting the question. (FDLS leader, Warren Jeffs, was jailed for coercing a 14-year-old to marry her 19-year-old cousin.) The saddest part, though, was the total lack of affect in the womens' faces when they talked about their children being taken away. "We know they are in desperate need of their mothers. Right now," one of the wives said, her face utterly void of emotion. Clip above. More »
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