More signs of gay poly acceptance

Whatever the gay community at large may think about being seen publicly supporting poly relationships, the American gay writers and leaders who've spoken up seem generally supportive. For instance, this columnist is appearing in gay newspapers this week:

Monogamous: To Be or Not to Be?

Rev. Irene Monroe

By Rev. Irene Monroe

The one thing you don’t expect to see in any of the Bible Belt states (where most have amended their constitutions to define marriage between one man and one woman) is an organization promoting polyamory.

Last month at Atlanta’s Pride Parade the group “Atlanta Polyamory Inc.” did just that — and in the wide open light of day....

...To be non-monogamous in this culture carries pejorative and judgmental connotations for both heterosexuals and LGBTQs. It assumes sexual promiscuity, a sex and love addiction as well as the inability to achieve emotional and sexual intimacy. But it also ignores the reality that some people really are polyamorous, and their ability to love more than one person at a time is not about a lust-fest for them.

Contrary to popular belief, sociologist Elisabeth Sheff forthcoming book “The Polyamorists Next Door” reveals that polyamory is a “legitimate relationship style that can be tremendously rewarding for adults and provide excellent nurturing for children.”

...While sexual jealousy and possessiveness would appear unavoidable in polyamorous relationship, there is also data revealing how having open relationships keeps these couples intact, and the love very much alive.

The practice of polyamory was once thought to be an absurd issue to explore as a relationship choice. But today’s it’s not. More and more organizations like “Atlanta Polyamory Inc.” are popping up across the country. Their members are coming out of the closet. Perhaps this will be the new civil rights battle before us.....

The Rev. Irene Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist who appears in SDGLN, The Huffington Post and other media. She was chosen in October 2009 by MSNBC as one of "10 black women you should know." Monroe has been profiled in O, The Oprah Magazine and in the Gay Pride episode of “In the Life" TV.... Visit her website here.

You can read the whole article in San Diego's Gay & Lesbian News (Nov. 7, 2013), Boston's Bay Windows (Nov. 6), The Bilerico Project (Nov. 8), HuffPost's Gay Voices (Nov. 11), and probably elsewhere.

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While we're at it, here's yet another friendly profile of a gay triad by a GLBT writer, this time on HuffPost Gay Voices: Will Polygamy Have Its Day in the Sun? (July 23, 2013). A bunch more in the genre are among these (including this post; scroll down).

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Exceptions to this trend of gay poly acceptance gained some attention in Australia, where the climate seems more hostile to LGBT issues generally than in much of the US. Following a nasty engineered panic by a Murdoch newspaper that a poly marriage bill had been brought in the Australian Senate to follow behind the gay-marriage bill under consideration (the story was made up; no such bill had been brought), a gay pro-monogamy group started up. This followed the public kerfuffle over whether the Sydney poly community's float would be allowed in the main part of the gay Mardi Gras parade, following the "Polyglamorous" float's dramatic presence in 2011. (For Mardi Gras 2014, Syd Poly has plans for a "Love Nest" float with a birdy theme.)

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