A better question might be why do polyamorous individuals internalize the condemnation of society and the state? Why do they fret upon it when it is so easily avoided? Demanding acceptance from others betrays a lack of self acceptance without which no level of external validation will ever be enough.
While I agree that relationships should stand or fall on their own merits, and that to a certain extent individuals must believe in themselves regardless of what others say, it is recognized that discrimination, harassment, slurs, and bullying are injurious to people. Anyone who has faced these things on account of who they are or the person(s) they love can vouch for this. This is why in many places, including where I live, when someone is treated unfairly or is subject to negative comments in the workplace because of their race or a disability (to name just two), the law doesn’t say “Get over it.” No, the law often sees to it that they are protected and, perhaps compensated.
In many places, these protections are not yet extended to polyamorous or polygamous relationships, though they may be extended to same-sex monogamous relationships. The law does not recognize and in some cases criminalizes polyamory, providing needless burdens and obstacles and inequality in treatment, let alone failing to protect against discrimination and bullying.
It is a matter of civil rights. Throughout the history of the struggle for civil rights, those who have been mistreated could have accepted their lot in life rather than working for change. Women could have accepted that they couldn’t vote. African-Americans could have accepted that they had to go to inferior schools, drink from a different fountain, and give up their seat in the front of the bus. But they didn’t, and we’re all better off for it. We are all going to be better off when an adult can share love, sex, and marriage with any consenting adults, as fewer people will be frustrated, cheating, or hiding, and more people will be happy and have the stability they want.
This is about freedom and equality. Every person should have it.
![Non-Monogamy Diagram [I:FV]](http://www.obsidianfields.com/lj/nonmonogamy2.5.1.gif){kind=link}
No comments:
Post a Comment
To prevent spam, comments will have to be approved, so your comment may not appear for several hours. Feedback is welcome, including disagreement. I only delete/reject/mark as spam: spam, vulgar or hateful attacks, repeated spouting of bigotry from the same person that does not add to the discussion, and the like. I will not reject comments based on disagreement, but if you don't think consenting adults should be free to love each other, then I do not consent to have you repeatedly spout hate on my blog without adding anything to the discourse.
If you want to write to me privately, then either contact me on Facebook, email me at fullmarriageequality at protonmail dot com, or tell me in your comment that you do NOT want it published. Otherwise, anything you write here is fair game to be used in a subsequent entry. If you want to be anonymous, that is fine.
IT IS OK TO TALK ABOUT SEX IN YOUR COMMENTS, BUT PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR WORDS CAREFULLY AS I WANT THIS BLOG TO BE AS "SAFE FOR WORK" AS POSSIBLE. If your comment includes graphic descriptions of activity involving minors, it's not going to get published.