2008 Woodie Awards
Polygamist women open up
Jennifer Dobner (AP)
Issue date: 4/21/08 Section: News
SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) - Before authorities raided their west Texas retreat, members of a secretive polygamous church spent decades holding as tightly to their intense privacy as the Scriptures guiding their way of life.
Contact with outsiders was limited. Media inquiries were rejected with either stone-faced silence or a polite "no comment."
But after Texas officials removed 416 children belonging to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the sect fired up the public relations machine.
From newspaper stories to appearances on morning network television, "Larry King Live" and "Oprah," FLDS women are speaking publicly about the heartbreak of being separated from their children and sharing some details of their life.
"This was just such a heinous thing that the normal rules didn't apply," said Rod Parker, a Salt Lake City attorney serving as a spokesman for the church. "What we were trying to do was inject a human element into what was happening here. Put names to faces and not just think of these people as being so different."
State officials raided the ranch April 3 after a domestic violence hotline call from a 16-year-old girl who alleged she was trapped inside the private retreat and had been physically and sexually abused by her much older husband.
The public relations campaign began a more than a week later, when many FLDS women who had been allowed to remain with their children in state shelters were bused back to their 1,700-acre ranch.
Within an hour, church leaders threw open a pair of normally locked gates, launching a two-day media blitz. Cameras and reporters have had tours of the grounds and peeks inside the sect's homes and a church school.
And while the message seems clearly targeted, the decision was less calculated than it may seem, Parker said.
"It was a spur-of-the-moment decision to do this. It was literally made as we were standing at the gate," said Parker, who has handled civil and criminal court matters for the FLDS since 1990.
Contact with outsiders was limited. Media inquiries were rejected with either stone-faced silence or a polite "no comment."
But after Texas officials removed 416 children belonging to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the sect fired up the public relations machine.
From newspaper stories to appearances on morning network television, "Larry King Live" and "Oprah," FLDS women are speaking publicly about the heartbreak of being separated from their children and sharing some details of their life.
"This was just such a heinous thing that the normal rules didn't apply," said Rod Parker, a Salt Lake City attorney serving as a spokesman for the church. "What we were trying to do was inject a human element into what was happening here. Put names to faces and not just think of these people as being so different."
State officials raided the ranch April 3 after a domestic violence hotline call from a 16-year-old girl who alleged she was trapped inside the private retreat and had been physically and sexually abused by her much older husband.
The public relations campaign began a more than a week later, when many FLDS women who had been allowed to remain with their children in state shelters were bused back to their 1,700-acre ranch.
Within an hour, church leaders threw open a pair of normally locked gates, launching a two-day media blitz. Cameras and reporters have had tours of the grounds and peeks inside the sect's homes and a church school.
And while the message seems clearly targeted, the decision was less calculated than it may seem, Parker said.
"It was a spur-of-the-moment decision to do this. It was literally made as we were standing at the gate," said Parker, who has handled civil and criminal court matters for the FLDS since 1990.
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shelly
posted 7/08/08 @ 2:47 PM CST
This country used to not be so critical,I am very intersted in this subject but not to critize them. I actually commend them for not being afraid to be different and stand up for what they believe in! I have an idea why doesnt everyyone just leave them alone and let them live the way they want!
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