Louisas wedding, however, brought the debate to Moscow. Russian pollsters started running numbers on what Russians thought about allowing polygamy among Russian Muslims. (Most are against it, but a full third thought it wasnt such a bad idea.) In May, nationalist pseudo-politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky said polygamy among Muslims already exists and so should be legalized; the following month, Kadyrov proposed legalizing polygamy in the North Caucasus which, let me remind you, is a territory of the Russian Federation. Even the Russian Orthodox Church was ready to talk. Meanwhile, when a lone member of the parliament proposed a law criminalizing polygamy, the initiative was duly shot down by Yelena Mizulina, the parliamentarian who was among the most vocal supporters of Russias anti-gay laws and other traditional values initiatives. Criminalizing polygamy, Mizulina said, was absurd. The reason for polygamy, she argued was that there are not enough men, the kind with whom women would want to start a family and have children. Last week, Mizulina was promoted to the upper chamber of parliament.
Louisas wedding happened two months ago, but the debate in Moscow continues. On July 21, the Russian edition of Esquire printed a long article that tracked the stories of three Russian converts to Islam who had become second or third wives, and how they didnt mind but even liked their status. Moreover, the women live not in the North Caucasus, but in the Russian capital.
