new psychological study by Kevin Zimmerman from Iowa State University suggests that “the stigma over open relationships could be changing, and in the future, this lifestyle might even become the norm.”

Clients in Sexually Open Relationships: Considerations for Therapists

The author seems to have a good grasp of the territory of open, polyamorous, and otherwise non-monogamous relationships. As quoted in the Huffington Post Blog about the article:

Zimmerman raises the question of whether we could be socialized to believe that to be devoted to a second person is to love the first less, even though this standard does not apply when discussing adoring more than one child, for example.

Zimmerman explains that open relationships are different from infidelity or cheating because partners agree on the sexual boundaries of the relationship, and there is no deception about sex. Successful open relationships typically involve those who privilege authenticity over conformity in their relationships. ‘Open’ relationships can be characterised by more honesty and better observation of boundaries.

While many people, especially in more conservative parts of our culture, believe that non-monogamous relationships (especially polygamy) are always bad, and inherently anti-feminist, Zimmerman challenges this ideas, saying

‘open’ relationships are sometimes seen as raising the status of women, releasing them to be with whom they want, bestowing greater power over their own bodies.

Additionally, Zimmerman correctly points out that monogamy is actually far less dominant that we’ve been led to believe:

Of the 185 human societies investigated in one study, only 29 restricted their members to monogamy… .

What do you think?  Are open relationships becoming less stigmatized? Is that true of only some types of open relationships?  Are there “good” or “bad” kinds of open relationships?

No matter what, change is on the horizon, and our society seems to be becoming more and more open to the possibility of “open.”

May you always love boldly, safely and well,

~♥ Dawn

PS: Want to set up a time to talk with me about open relationships, polyamory, monogamy, and/or how to design your own best relationships? I’m happy to do a free 30 minute, or a 1/2 price 60 minute phone session with you. Get clear on what your relationship structure is, and underlying assumptions about rules and boundaries, and your relationship/s will be easier and happier! Or call me (510-686-3386) to set up a time for a free intro session!

Love Outside The Box (white on dark) T-shirts by LoveOutsideTheBox
Check out other Poly T-Shirts at zazzle.com

∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥

[© 2013 Dawn M. Davidson]

 

Robyn Trask and Jesus Garcia, Loving More

FREE Webinar TODAY, Wed 5/15, 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific:  “Beyond Monogamy”.  Robyn Trask and Jesus Garcia of Loving More Non-profit are launching their new Webinar Series with a FREE 1 hour Introduction to Polyamory and Other Relationship Choices. Get more info and sign up here:

http://www.mynewsletterbuilder.com/email/newsletter/1411732181/

Should be a very interesting and useful call!  Space is limited, so grab your spot before it fills up.

May you always love boldly, safely, and well!

∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥

[© 2013 Dawn M. Davidson]

A few weeks ago I published an audio interview of Kathy Labriola, author of the popular book on polyamory and open relationships, Love In Abundance: A Counselor’s Advice On Open Relationships.  We had lots of fun doing that, and so Kathy turned around and interviewed me.   The interview covers a few things, including some discussion about what I do as a coach and a counselor for polyamorous people, a little bit about my KISSable Agreements Workbook and the 5 Reasons Agreements Fail, and also some stuff about Getting To Win-Win-Win.

Tip: If you right-click the link below and open it in a new tab, you should see some sort of player for the interview. You could also choose to play it in iTunes. In part because Kathy had a lot of questions, and in part because I don’t have any editing tools yet (LOL), this interview is just over 21 minutes long.

KathyLabriolaInterviewsDawnDavidson.4.1.13

Do you like these interviews?  Hate ‘em?  Want to talk to us about them? Please let us know!

If you have any questions or feedback, you can certainly comment here, write to me, or comment over on my LoveOTB Facebook page.

And remember:  Love is ALWAYS OK!

~♥ Dawn

PS: Got a sticky poly problem you want to talk over? I’m happy to offer a free 30 minute session (by phone, Skype, or in person in the SF Bay Area), just for the asking. Or if you’d like a little more time, I can do 60 minutes for half off.  You can get an intro price session with the PayPal buttons on my webpage, or contact me if you’d like the free 30 minutes, prefer a different payment method, or have any questions.  Want to read what other people have said about my work? Check out my testimonials page. I’d love to hear from you, and learn how I can help your poly life be even better!

∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥

[© 2013 Dawn M. Davidson]

Occasionally I get some interesting letters.  Recently, I was contacted by a High School Honors student seeking information for a paper. Here’s what the student wrote:

Hello, [...] I am currently working on a research paper on polygamy. I found your information on the lovemore.com website and I was wondering if you would be willing to answer the following questions.

1. How does dating work in a polygamist relationship?

2. Did you choose to be a polygamist? If so what made you choose to be a polygamist?

3. Did you grow up in a polygamist family? If not how does being a polygamist affect your non-polygamist family?

4. How do the children interact with multiple mothers?

5. How does being a polygamist child affect childhood?

6. Do you have to be a certain religion to be a polygamist?

7. What are your feelings on Warren Jeffs?

8. Do you believe that Warren Jeffs is the reason polygamy is illegal in some states?

9. How does being a polygamist affect your day to day life?

10. Why do you believe polygamy is illegal in multiple states?

11. Does polygamy being illegal affect your day to day life?

12. Is there anything that you think that I should know about polygamy in order to write my paper?

Thank you for taking time to read my email and answering my questions

This email, while clearly interested in the topic and asking some worthwhile questions, shows the vast gulf in understanding in the general public of what polyamory and polygamy actually are.

Here’s my response:

Dear [    ]:

I’ve been debating how to answer your questions since your first message.  The issue, you see, is that you have contacted the wrong person to answer the questions you’ve asked.  I’m not a polygamist.  I practice *polyamory*. Here’s a quick definition:

Polyamory =
poly (derived from the Greek for ‘many’)
+
amory (derived from the Latin for ‘love’)

In other words,

Polyamory is the belief in and/or practice of multiple loving relationships, with the full knowledge and consent of those involved.

Polyamory and polygamy are not the same thing, though they share the same Greek root meaning “many.”  Polygamy, however, shares the root “gamy” with the word “monogamy,” which refers to human marriage customs.  (See more here: http://www.affixes.org/g/-gamy.html)

You can read more about my definition of polyamory at this blog entry:
http://blog.unchartedlove.com/?p=1147

If you’d like to know more about polyamory, you might want to look up some of the resources (websites, books, etc.) on this list:

http://blog.unchartedlove.com/?page_id=114

For more on the distinction between polyamory and polygamy, see the informative web page “Polygamy and Polyamory” a brochure by the Unitarian Universalists for Polyamory Awareness: http://www.uupa.org/Literature/PolygamyComparison.htm

Best wishes on your paper,

Dawn

In addition to that letter, I’ve also compiled a DRAFT of a table highlighting some of the similarities and differences between polyamory and polygamy.  I’ve been hesitant to publish it, in part because I haven’t yet run it by any representatives from the groups discussed (other than polyamorists, where I’ve run the paper by some researchers into polyamory, a few months ago.) So if you, dear reader, identify with any of these groups, and you find areas that you feel need improvement, please do bring the matter/s to my attention (gently, if you can!) I wish to provide this list as a starting point for thought and discussion, not as a prescription for division.  I myself am not a social scientist and do not claim to be an “academic.”  The references and suggested readings listed are also not meant to be an exhaustive list, but instead a starting place for further research.

 

Polyamory	Polygamy (as popularly understood in US; aka religious polygyny) (1)
Some similarities
Multiple adult partners	Multiple adult partners
Deserving of human rights	Deserving of human rights
Stigmatized and misunderstood	Stigmatized and misunderstood
Lack of governmental or social recognition of family status	Lack of governmental or social recognition of family status
Some differences
Egalitarian (shared power in relationship)	Patriarchal (decisions and responsibility reserved to male head of family)
Structure not based in organized religion (though practitioners may be religious and/or spiritual)	Structure originates in religious doctrine or belief
Any combination and number of genders in relationship structure	Relationship structure limited to 1 man, multiple women
Mostly not prohibited in the US (2)	Mostly prohibited in the US (3)
About love/romantic relationships	About marriage relationships
Long-term commitment optional	Long-term commitment a requirement
May be sexually open (individuals in the relationship may or may not have additional sexual relationships outside of the polyamorous relationship under discussion)	Always sexually closed (individuals within the relationship may only have sex within the relationship)
Same gender sexual relationships may be allowed	Heterosexual relationships only
Allows for gender fluidity and other non-normative gender expressions	Binary gender expression only
Relationship focused (May or may not consider themselves part of a family)	Family-focused

© 2013 Dawn M. Davidson

(1) Other forms of polygamy exist worldwide that are not based in religious doctrine or belief. This table does not address those and is not meant to imply that they either don’t exist, nor that they are the same as the religious form of polygamy discussed here. This table exists primarily to clarify the most common misperception of polyamory being “the same as polygamy,” as represented by, for instance the TV shows “Big Love” or “Sister Wives.”

See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_status_of_polygamy and http://jezebel.com/5981095/polyandry-is-actually-way-more-popular-than-anthropologists-have-thought

(2) Cohabiting polyamorous groups may be prohibited by bigamy laws in some states, e.g., Utah.  See also http://non-monodiscourse.blogspot.com/

(3) Some Christian polygamy groups advocate marrying and then getting a legal divorce in order to create a “spiritual marriage” only. This form of polygamy (in essence, a form of serial marriage) would be legal in the US. (Source: http://www.christianpolygamy.com/)

For more information, see also:

“Polygamy and Polyamory” a brochure by the Unitarian Universalists for Polyamory Awareness: http://www.uupa.org/Literature/PolygamyComparison.htm

Do you have anything to add to this table?  Any great references, important line items, or any comments or questions? As always, feel free to contact me on my Love Outside the Box webpage, to comment below, or to visit my Facebook page, LoveOTB. I welcome your discussion and feedback.

May you always love boldly, safely, and well,

~♥ Dawn

∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥

[© 2013 Dawn M. Davidson]

Patricia Pearce

My friend Patricia Pearce often inspires me with her writings (or sometimes her friends do, as guest bloggers.)  This week she wrote another deep and thoughtful post on the tragedy of the bombings at the Boston Marathon, called Love’s Marathon. I highly recommend that you read it all. To get you started, here’s an excerpt:

In my understanding, the fundamental spiritual truth is that all things and all beings are interconnected, part of one body — Love — that animates the Universe. Atrocities such as Monday’s bombing in Boston do violence to that fundamental truth of interconnection by enacting a story of division. They are assaults on Love.

But because Love is the reality of complete oneness, even those who enact the story of division are not, cannot, be cast out of Love, because there is no “outside” of Love.

Once when I was walking a labyrinth on retreat, I received a teaching. “There are no enemies,” it said. “There are only those who do not know who they are.” There are only those who are not conscious that they are cells, as we all are, in the one body of Love.

[read the rest here]

I’ve been thinking a lot about Love this week, and about enemies, about division, and separation.  About what it means to love, to be an enemy (of), to support or betray.  Patricia points out that there is no “outside” of Love.  Love is intrinsically whole, intrinsically inclusive. There are people who try to say that, by loving “outside the box,” that I am outside of Love. That people whose love doesn’t fit societal expectations, such as those with same-sex partnerships, are somehow less deserving of being included in Love. I think this is nonsensical. Those who feel they must “protect the sanctity of marriage” by excluding one or another form of love are, as Patricia says, “enacting a story of division.” Love is bigger than marriage.  Love needs no “protection,” because it is bigger than the boxes we humans try to keep it locked up inside.

My logo, by the way, is a visual representation of this concept.  Love is literally outside of the box, the heart surrounding the smaller box at the center. It is impossible for the box — for me, or for others — to be outside of Love, because Love is bigger than the confining walls.  Love is unable to be contained … and also still open, with room to let more love, more people, inside.

When I get scared, and when others around me get scared, we tend to put up walls and barriers. Our intent is to create safety, but what we end up creating is separation.  We want love, but in our attempt to hold on to love, we create fear and pain, loneliness and suffering.  The hard thing, as Patricia says, is to continue to keep our hearts open, even in the face of pain and suffering. Even in the face of tragedy. Because without opening ourselves, and risking our own hearts, there is no way for us to remember that separateness is an illusion, that we all are one, and that there is room enough for everyone inside the welcoming heart of Love.

Fortunately for those of us who love outside the box, we’re used to running “Love’s Marathon”– we’re used to continuing to open ourselves to Love and to possibility, even when it brings us some pain in the shorter term, because we know (or trust) that the end of the journey is worthwhile. It’s not always easy — but then, worthwhile things rarely are. So when someone is casting ME out, or viewing me as an enemy, I get to remember that they’ve probably forgotten who they are.  And that makes it easier to love them in that moment, because I can remember that the separation is an illusion, and hope that soon, they will remember it themselves. I can hold that space of remembering that we are not separate, until they can remember it too, and then we can be together in Love again.

Wishing you Love and inclusion,

~♥ Dawn

PS: I first met Patricia in a course by my friend and mentor Samantha Bennett.  Sam has a course coming up this spring (her “Monster Get It Done telecourse), and since she’s rearranged the schedule so it starts next week instead of this one, you can still hop on the bandwagon. The way you learn how to sign up for the Monster Get It Done is to listen to the AWESOME teleseminar Get Unstuckified: Why You’re Procrastinating On the Important Stuff and What To Do About It.

I’m proud to be a Really Big Fan (aka Affiliate) of Sam’s, so if you choose to purchase the course through this link, I’ll get a referral fee. But I trust that you will do your own homework, and only purchase stuff that you know is right for YOU. I’ll be there in the course too, and on the calls, so you know I’m not just trying to get money here; I really believe in what Sam has to offer, and I think it’s worthwhile.

And I think that if we can all get ourselves “Unstuckified,” it will be easier for us to remember that we’re really all connected, and really all a part of LOVE.  After all… Love is ALWAYS OK.

∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥

[© 2013 Dawn M. Davidson]

Fellow poly blogger Franklin, aka Tacit (deservedly well-known for his site More Than Two), recently published a very interesting article in his Live Journal about “couple privilege.” Rather than try to reinvent the wheel here, I’ll let you read his own words about what that means:

Polyamory: So What Is Couple Privilege, Anyway?

∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥

[© 2013 Dawn M. Davidson]

Kathy Labriola, Author of Love In Abundance

The interview I did with Jessica Burde was so much fun, I decided to do another one!  This time I interviewed Kathy Labriola, well-known counselor/nurse, and author of the popular book on polyamory and open relationships, Love In Abundance: A Counselor’s Advice On Open Relationships.

As many of you know, Kathy is a great resource for people in polyamorous or open relationships. She’s been practicing some form of polyamory/open relationships for about 40 years, and has been counseling others for more than two decades. She’s very dedicated to serving the low-income population, and has been providing excellent advice for many years via her variety of free pamphlets, which she mailed out to any who requested them. Any by “mail” I mean she licked the stamp and dropped it in the mailbox, because she started long before the internet existed!

Love In Abundance,” by Kathy Labriola

So I was very excited when Kathy accepted my offer to interview her, so I could share some of her great knowledge with others. As last time, we conducted this interview via Skype in audio only.  What I did not do this time, however, was to transcribe the interview. Sorry! You’ll need to listen to the recording in order to enjoy Kathy’s excellent discussion about the three main types of open relationships, and a few of her many tips on what makes people successful. And as a bonus, at the end of the interview, Kathy shares her favorite jokes about polyamory! (If you’d like to volunteer to do the transcription, both Kathy and I would appreciate it!)

Tip: If you right-click the link and open it in a new tab, you should see some sort of player for the interview. You could also choose to play it in iTunes. The interview is just over 18 minutes long.

DawnDavidsonInterviewsKathyLabriola4.1.13

If you’d like to order Kathy’s book, you can get it directly from her own website:
http://www.kathylabriola.com/Love-in-Abundance

You can also get it from Amazon (and if you click on the link below I’ll get a tiny, tiny percentage), but honestly, Kathy keeps more of it if you buy it directly from here: http://www.kathylabriola.com/Love-in-Abundance.

Hope you enjoy listening to the interview as much as we enjoyed recording it!

~♥ Dawn

PS: There’s more to come!  The same day we recorded this interview, Kathy also interviewed me.  So watch this space for another recording. Also, Kathy is in the process of writing a new book, The Jealousy Workbook (which will appear next spring from Greenery Press), to which I’ve contributed a technique for battling jealousy.  I’ll certainly be announcing it when it appears, so if you’d like advance notice on that, you can sign up for my LoveOTB List. (Kathy doesn’t have a list, though of course she’ll announce it on her website as well.)

∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥

[© 2013 Dawn M. Davidson]

Poly vs. Tea Party on ABC-TV

I’ve been busy this past week at a business conference, InfusionCon. A 7am to 11pm schedule each day left me with little time or energy, and as a result, I missed all the hullabaloo over last week’s episode of Wife Swap that included a polyamorous family from New York State. The Wife Swap folks have been nosing about the poly community for a number of years now, looking for someone willing to take on this gamble… er… challenge. Obviously, they finally found someone willing to chance it. This one, unlike the recent poly episode on  Our America with Lisa Ling, was available on Hulu (and is also viewable online at the ABC site), so several members of my household sat down to watch it tonight. So how’d it go?

As Alan M. of Poly In the News pointed out, it could have been way worse. In ways, I think it was just about as good an outcome as we could expect from such a show. Ultimately, the poly family came out looking fairly normal, quite loving, and very supportive of one another. The kids of the Tea Party family all seemed pretty reasonable and normal, but the adults were shown to be quite intolerant and unwilling to abide by the rules to which they’d previously agreed.

You can read more about the episode over at Poly In the News, if you’d like. Warning: there are definite spoilers in Alan’s review, so if you intend to watch the show, you might want to do it first, before reading the coverage.

For extra amusement value, apparently Rush Limbaugh covered the show as well.

A balanced documentary about polyamorous life, it was not, of course. But for something aimed at creating as much drama as possible in the name of “entertainment,” the polyamorous family ended up being a stand for love and diversity.

Yes, it could have been a lot worse, indeed.

Here’s hoping your life is as full of love — and as empty of drama — as you could wish!

~♥ Dawn

PS: I think the Tea Party family could use a bit of a refresher on how to make and keep Agreements, don’t you? If you’re interested in learning more about making KISSable Agreements, you might want to download the excerpt of my upcoming book,* which includes the most important tool for getting to Win-Win-Win.  Enjoy!

* You’ll need to give an accurate email address so I can send you the file, and I’ll add you to my fairly low-traffic list at the same time… but you can always unsubscribe if you don’t want to remain after you get the file.  Of course, I hope you’ll stay!

∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥

[© 2013 Dawn M. Davidson]

Author Jessica Burde

Hi folks!  I have something new for you today.  My friend and colleague Jessica Burde of Polyamory On Purpose has written a book called Polyamory and Pregnancy:

She’s doing a Blog Tour, and today is her stop at my blog. You can read more about the book and the blog tour over at Alan M.’s Polyamory in the News. She and I did a fun, quick interview a couple of weeks back, and I’ve placed it here for your listening pleasure.  You should be able to listen to it by double-clicking on the mp3 link, or opening it with iTunes or something similar:

Interview.jessica.burde.03.11.13

[3.3 MB; 13 min 42 sec]

I’ve transcribed the interview and included it below the cut, in case there are issues with the recording for anyone.

One note for any who might not have run into the term before, “metamour” means another partner of your own partner.  So in this case Jessica refers to the [female] partner of Jessica’s husband Michael as her metamour.

Hope you enjoy listening to the recording.

~♥ Dawn

PS:  A request on behalf of the author:  If you’re ever planning to buy this book from Amazon, could you please do so this week (March 17-23)?  This will help her get a good one-time Amazon ranking in the book’s specialty category.

PPS: Check out the other books on poly, relationships, and communication I have listed in the Amazon widget below and to the right
=====>>
There’s some awesome information to support your poly relationships in there… and if you buy through that link, you’ll also be supporting me (in a very tiny amount).  Win-win-win!

Continue reading →

Things are really hopping for polyamorous people in Colorado right now. In addition to the big news with the excellent poly episode on Our America With Lisa Ling (which profiled some of the Loving More folks in CO), the Colorado legislature has apparently also just passed legislation regarding same sex partnerships in the state. According to Robyn Trask, head of Loving More:

[Recently] the Colorado Legislature passed a bill for Civil Unions for same sex couple. The bill allows many of the same rights for Civil Unions as marriage but falls short in areas of taxation and some financial benefits.

Loving More has been contacted by reporters asking if the polyamory community wants marriage or civil unions and do we plan to “push” for this now or in the future. …

I am wondering how the leaders here [on the Poly Leadership Network list] feel about this issue. Loving More is not a political organization and we can’t push for any legislation. Our role is awareness, social advocacy and support.

Discussion is ongoing on the PLN list, and several people have weighed in. Jessica Burde of Polyamory on Purpose expressed a couple of very good points:

1) We have bigger issues. When polyfolk can’t lose their children and
their jobs for being poly, when there aren’t laws on the books which
can fine us or send us to jail for our lifestyles, then I’ll worry
about whether or not we should fight for marriage.

2) LGBT doesn’t need us rocking their boat. A lot of us have been
disappointed with the response of the LGBT community to the poly
movement. Many of them see our desire for recognition as a threat to
the progress they have made over the last few decades. By providing
ammunition for the slippery slope argument, we hurt the people we want
for allies, and help the people who want to hurt us.

Are we ready for poly marriages?

Here’s what I added to the discussion:

“Pushing” for poly marriage would probably be a mistake, I think. Jessica [Burde] has said some good reasons why. I actually think that the way to create a more just, fair, and safe society (here in the US anyway) for everyone, is to fix the damn health care situation. Ridiculous “health” “care” costs ruin so many people’s lives, and drive decisions about marriage and relationships. I’m still married to my “almost ex” (or my “significant ex” as my sister calls him!) in large part because of health care access. [...] Get health care OUT of the marriage question, and make it a RIGHT for ALL citizens (at the very least; possibly all HUMANS residing in these borders), and then we can start talking about what choices people might want to make around marriage/relationship.

And yes, the dangers of losing children in custody battles is a huge problem as well. The more we can educate the public on the safety and indeed positive benefits of poly to children raised in poly households, the better for everyone. Again, that doesn’t require “pushing” for marriage benefits — just educating about poly families (e.g., the excellent work of Elisabeth Sheff in the US and Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli (sp?) in Australia.) Getting it through the thick skulls of the lawmakers that the stigma and fear is more dangerous than the “lifestyle” is definitely going to help.

As to polys riding on the coattails of the GLBT movement… yes, same sex marriage is necessary before we can even consider poly marriage, since any poly marriage would defacto contain at least one same sex couple. But same sex marriage is not the SAME as poly marriage, and it isn’t necessarily the next logical step, since it is pretty radically not the same as hetero couple marriage. Same sex marriage is required — but not sufficient — for poly marriages to exist.

Where I come down, in general, is that I believe that everyone should have a right to free association (gee, where did that idea come from?? *eyes the documents of our founding forebears…*) and to be related to whomever and however many they love. As such, I support the rights of same sex couples to marry. I also think that, if we remove the notion of heterosexual couples only, that eventually it will become nonsensical to think that we should limit loving relationships to only two adults, in the same way that eventually it became nonsensical to imagine that people of different religions or races should not marry. But I think that will come about without us having to “push” for it… just educate, educate, educate.

What do YOU think? Is now the time to be discussing poly marriage? What kind of marriage laws might YOU like to see? How do you think we should be approaching this issue?

As always, feel free to comment below, contact me here, or on my Facebook Page, Love Outside The Box. I welcome your input on these issues of importance to all of us who “love outside the box.”

~♥ Dawn

PS:  Are you interested in creating a poly relationship ceremony?  Or creating a more standard wedding for two people, and want someone who understands that you are proceeding from some different assumptions? I’m an ordained minister, with experience creating and officiating at weddings and other life milestone ceremonies.  You can find out more about this aspect of my work on my Ministerial Services page. And as always, I’m happy to set up a 30 minute free consultation to help you determine if I’m the right person for the ceremony you want to create.  No matter who and how many you love… Love is ALWAYS OK!

Love Is OK (rainbow heart) Tshirt by LoveOutsideTheBox
Make a t-shirt online at Zazzle.

∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥ ∞ ♥

[© 2013 Dawn M. Davidson]