Another country heard from: "Polyamory takes off in Norway"

From a TV report: "LARGE HEART. Lynn Myrdal, leader of the organization PolyNorge, is happily married and has children, but gladly dates others." (Lovise Gangnes / TV 2)

A radio report with the title at top came out the other day from Deutsche Welle, Germany's international public broadcaster. It's just the latest reminder of Norway's upfront poly scene, led by PolyNorge. The blurb:

Monogamous relationships in Norway are a thing of the past and the future belongs to...living openly with more than one partner. That's according to a Norwegian group founded about a year ago. [No, that's extremifying what they say.] It wants acceptance and ultimately the possibility of marriage for those who love in groups of three or more. Our reporter John Laurenson went to Oslo to meet some of them.

Listen here (6 minutes, in English). The interviewer talks to a longtime open MFM V triad with a baby and attends a public event hosted by PolyNorge, which he says has about 100 active members (May 11, 2018).

For a group that small, PolyNorge seems to have a lot going on. It formed officially in September 2016 but its roots go back at least a decade earlier. It's been quite effective in getting media notice and starting public conversation about the open-ended possibilities of love and relationships. When the group launched, a member posted this to Polyamory.com:

Norwegian Poly NGO founding gets huge press

In connection to the public startup of the Norwegian polyamorous NGO PolyNorge, the national press was in touch even before the startup. The past two days, poly people were featured in the national news channel NRK three times:

● A radio interview featuring a polyamorous woman, a poly friendly psychologist and a polyamory researcher: Polyamorous people start up NGO on the debate program "Ekko" on NRK P2, "the culture channel" [Sept. 17, 2016].

The researcher, Audrey Stark, has published her master's thesis, based on 8 in-depth interviews with members of the Norwegian polyamory network: Polyamory – A Labor of Love: Boundary Work and Legitimization of Non-Normative Intimate Relationships [June 2015].

● Text summarizing the radio interview: Lynn har to elskere — ektemannen har kjæreste (Lynn has two lovers — her husband has a girlfriend). The intro says, "Lynn Myrdal loves plural men. Saturday, the country's first organisation for polyamorous people will be founded. Many more than you would think, expert says." [Sept. 17, 2016]

● An article on the broadcaster's debate forum, NRK Ytring: Kjærlighet er ingen privat sak (Love is not a private issue) by a well-known journalist, based on the NGO startup and her own poly experience. It prompted a huge debate. [Sept. 18, 2016]

More articles are listed on the PolyNorge site; see the News section at its bottom. Google Translate handles the language well.

We have a compelling message, and it continues to spread.

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