First Baby Born With Three Bio Parent Technique

This blog is about adult relationships, not about reproductive technologies, but the issue of reproduction and raising children is often brought into discussions about how laws treat same-sex, polyamorous, and consanguinamorous relationships. So with that in mind, it was interesting to see this report from Kerry Sheridan at yahoo.com...

The world's first baby has been born using a controversial new technique by US scientists to include DNA from three parents in the embryo, said a report.

The baby boy was born five months ago in Mexico to Jordanian parents, and is healthy and doing well, said the report in New Scientist magazine, described as an "exclusive."

That's good news.

The boy's mother carried genes for a disorder known as Leigh Syndrome, a fatal nervous system disorder which she had passed on to her two previous children who both died of the disease.

She had also suffered four miscarriages.

The woman, whose identity was withheld by New Scientist, and her husband sought the help of John Zhang, a doctor from the New Hope Fertility Center in New York City to have a baby that would be genetically related to them but would not carry the inherited disease.

That is the big draw with this; having a child genetically related to both or all of the people in the relationship while avoiding serious diseases and disorders.

Since the mother carried the genes for the disease in her mitochondria, or DNA that is passed down from the maternal side, Zhang used her nuclear DNA and combined it with mitochondria from an egg donor, in a technique known as spindle nuclear transfer.

"He removed the nucleus from one of the mother's eggs and inserted it into a donor egg that had had its own nucleus removed," said the report.

"The resulting egg –- with nuclear DNA from the mother and mitochondrial DNA from a donor -– was then fertilized with the father's sperm."

Science!

For now, it is being used to avoid deadly disorders, but as the technology advances and becomes more affordable, it could be used on an elective basis.

Mothers Gone Wrong?

There have been several "incest" stories in the news lately featuring mothers with their adult children, and the circumstances of some of them have raised awareness of Genetic Sexual Attraction. The stories have gone viral, and the way news cycles work means that similar cases will be more likely to make news. That being said, GSA will be happening more. Also, like with any other human interaction, sometimes abusers are in the mix. Abuse shouldn't be tolerated. Consensual social or sexual relationships shouldn't be lumped with abuse.

The vast majority of situations involving consanguinamory, whether flings or lifelong romances, whether initiated through GSA or not, are never brought into the criminal system and never make news. If people think the cases below are the totality of these, they are mistaken.

Along with the objective news articles came much pearl-clutching from the usual crowd of bigots, and even death threats in comments sections spewed at (alleged or possible) lovers and anyone who points out that the pearl-clutchers and finger-waggers have no good reason to deny these people their basic rights.

While these news items no doubt send some people into their masturbatory frenzies even as they say the participants are "sick" and they "other" them and want them in prison, it is good to consider the situations in light of reason. Some people are prejudiced against anything different than what they want, what they have, or what they'll allow themselves to have. But, if we don't treat all adults equally, if we don't take consent seriously, if they don't have their right to love each other how they mutually agree, then all of our rights in danger.


The first case we're looking at in this entry is from Oklahoma, and primarily about a mother who married the genetic daughter she didn't raise. There was a partially-viewable report by Scott Rains at swoknews.com. We blogged about this situation already here, but more information came in later.

Heavy.com claimed to have "5 Fast Facts You Need to Know" as written by Jessica McBride. Their coverage is actually impressively thorough as far as linking to, and quoting various sources about the case.

Patricia Spann and her daughter Misty Velvet Dawn Spann. (Facebook/Patricia Spann)

1. Patricia Spann Also Married Her Son in 2008 and That Marriage Was Annulled

So, if these were sexual relationships, it appears she might be especially prone to experience Genetic Sexual Attraction. Some people only experience GSA for one genetic relative with whom they were reunited, even if they are reunited with several.

Winning and Losing in Court Over Allegations of Consanguinamory

Here's a fascinating, although short, report by Julia Marsh at nypost.com that uses the "i" word in the headline to get attention.

It was Daddy’s dirty little secret that he was having sex with his daughter, and it should have stayed that way, a New York judge ruled in ordering disgraced hedge-funder David Bruce McMahan a nominal $1 award against his ex-wife for dishing to a newspaper about the alleged incest.

That's how the article starts out. Many people reading this were probably thinking of a father grooming and forcing himself on his minor daughter. But keep reading.

Jane Writes to the Haters

Jane continues to have a great blog about consanguinamory, and she just posted an open letter to haters.

Both of us were recently subjected to especially hateful attacks that literally wished death on consenting adults for loving each other and for anyone who would speak up for their rights. That's all too common, unfortunately, even though there is no good reason to hate on such lovers.

The chances are, you KNOW somebody who is or was involved, whether you realize it or not. If you cannot figure out who that person or people might be, then it stands to reason that consanguinamorous people are NORMAL people just like the rest of the human race.

Yes. People would be floored if they could suddenly know all of the people in their live who are in, or have been in, consanguinamorous relationships.

Go read all of it, and follow/bookmark her blog if you haven't already.

Also, if you want a place to have meaningful discussions about consanguinamory, be sure to join us at Kindred Spirits forum.

A Brief Interview with Maggie

This blog has featured scores of exclusive interviews with lovers are denied the freedom to be open about their love.

The woman interviewed below could be criminally prosecuted and face other forms of discrimination if the wrong people found out about her relationship. They are consenting adults who aren't hurting anyone; why should they have to hide or be denied their rights?

For some, consanguineous sex, especially between a parent and their adult child (in this case, mother and son), is a taboo thrill and more on the recreational side, especially for someone who is already highly sexually adventurous. For others, it is more about an overall loving relationship, forming a "double bond" or "double love," especially if they might be classified as consanguinamorous in their overall orientation. Where this relationship will eventually settle in that spectrum remains to be seen.

***SOME OF THE DISCUSSION IS MILDLY EXPLICIT***

*****


FULL MARRIAGE EQUALITY: Tell us about yourself.

Maggie: I live in the south of the UK, in a suburban area. I work in administration. I have a university degree. I enjoy reading, TV, and sex.

Lesbian and Bisexual Women and Polyamory

Kathy Belge takes “A Look at Open Relationships for Lesbian and Bisexual Women.”

No two people in an open relationship are the same, but some lesbian and bisexual women get into polyamorous relationships because they want to experience sex outside the relationship. The reasons vary. One partner might have a higher sexual drive than the other. One or all of the people in the relationship may want to explore BDSM, which sometimes involves sex parties and sex and play with other people. Sometimes women who are bisexual choose to be in open relationships so they can continue to have sex with both men and women. Others just don’t believe that monogamy is right for them and polyamory is works better.

I would say it is often more than “to experience sex outside the relationship.” It is often also about other forms of intimacy and emotional support, as well as companionship.

No two polyamorous relationships look the same. Some people choose to have one primary partner and have sexual relationships outside of that partnership. Sometimes all three parties are involved with each other. Each configuration has boundaries and structure. For example, one couple might decide that it’s okay to have sex outside of the relationship, but that romance and dates are not okay. Others may be involved in sexual and romantic relationships with more than one person. Other times bisexual women who are married to men have an agreement with their husbands where they are allowed to have relationships with other women, but not with men.

For open relationships to work, they be consensual and there be trust and excellent communication.

She lists several great resources.

It is good that monogamous lesbian and bisexual women are getting the right to marry, but polyamorous lesbians and bisexuals should also have their right to marry the persons they love. For that, we need full marriage equality.

Will Sister Wives Go to Washington?

Ben Winslow had an update at fox12now.com on the court case of the Browns, who've been featured in "Sister Wives." They are asking the Supreme Court to get involved.

Reality TV polygamist Kody Brown and his wives are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider a challenge to Utah's anti-polygamy laws.

Good for them. The law in Utah is even more discriminatory than the laws in the rest of the states, unconstutionally criminalizing polyfidelity.

Brown and his four wives, Meri, Christine, Janelle and Robyn, plan to file a petition for certiorari with the nation's top court, challenging the state's ban on polygamy. The petition, filed Monday, basically focuses on whether the Browns really faced a threat of prosecution from Utah County Attorney Jeff Buhman.
Brown family attorney Jonathan Turley argued they do.

"Mr. Buhman and his colleagues appear to value the law precisely because it can be used pre-prosecution for investigations and corresponding searches, which may only last hours or days," Turley wrote. "However, plural families and cohabitating adults must live under the constant threat of being subject to a different and easier threshold for searches since their very family structure is all that is needed to justify investigations."

Someone may try to defend keeping a bad, unconstitutional law on the books by saying that it isn't enforced often, or is only enforced against people who are doing other crimes. It's not true. All it takes is a power-hungry person with prejudice to use a bad law to harass people, drag them into court, split up their family, and other discriminatory actions.

A Natural Attraction

The journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin published the results of a study by R. Chris Fraley and Michael J. Marks that has received some almost-mainstream media attention. The study indicates that we are sexually attracted to our close relatives on a physical basis.

From Wired:

In a series of experiments where subjects viewed photographs of their opposite-sex parent or a photo morphed with their own face, researchers found that people are turned on by photographs of people who resemble their close genetic counterparts.

“People appear to be drawn to others who resemble their kin or themselves,” said psychologist R. Chris Fraley of the University of Illinois, lead author of the study published July 20 in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. “It is possible, therefore, as Freud suggested, that incest taboos exist to counter this primitive tendency.”

If we are driven to spread our genes, then wouldn’t it make sense that we’d be attracted to the people who share some of those genes? Or, if my father is genetically predisposed to be attracted to women with a certain look, wouldn’t it be possible that I have those genes, too, and so I’d be attracted to someone who looks like my mother?

It makes sense that there is some natural or social mechanism that mitigates this to prevent young siblings or parents of minor children from doing things that subvert other parental or sibling responsibilities, in addition to most people not being pedophiles. But that mechanism isn’t needed beyond a certain age.

The Huffington Post also mentioned the news.

While rare, some coupled relatives have come out of the woodwork in proof of this theory. In 2008, father and daughter John and Jenny Deaves were featured on 60 Minutes episode about genetic sexual attraction. Not only did the two admit to having an amorous relationship but also to conceiving children together. They live in South Australia.

While it isn't an uncommon experience, only a few people have come out publicly with their accounts of GSA. Most people are afraid to, and for good reason, given how people are currently treated in most places in the world if they come out.

The blog at Discover Magazine also covered the story.

Fortunately, none of this coverage I found back when this was fresh was overtly bigoted.

So should there really be laws and social hostility towards something that is natural? Some people strike out against attractions they do not share or do not understand. We see that when it comes to interracial or same-gender attraction, and we see it when it comes to this.

Visibility Matters

Despite consanguineous relationships happening everywhere, and despite being in many classic stories, positive visibility for consanguinamorists is too rare these days.

There has been a steady stream of consanguinamorists making news, with the stories going viral, for years now. Most of these relationships have been initiated with Genetic Sexual Attraction. How many of these have to go viral before people figure out that GSA is real and that these relationships are not so rare?

Unfortunately, since most consanguinamorists stay at least partially closeted, most of these news reports are about unjust prosecutions. Professional columnists and comment trolls alike pile on to lovers, who have done nothing wrong and haven't hurt anyone, with everything from finger-wagging to wishing them death.

So many people want to control the love lives of other people, and if they can't control them, these hateful bigots and their unthinking accomplices want them to have to hide. Anything that doesn't fit into their narrow plans has to be destroyed.

The headlines tantalize. They're eye catching, not just because some people have some sad need to hate on others, but also in part because more people are interested in these realtionships, or even in being in one, than are willing to admit it.

There are literally tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of people on this planet in these relationships or who have been. But it's going to be the people criminally prosecuted who make news, usually. For every relationship dragged into court on criminal charges, there are thousands that aren't, because people live where it isn't illegal, or don't out themselves or aren't outed by others to law enforcement, prosecutors decide not to pursue a case because of lack of evidence or because it's ridiculous to prosecuted consenting adults for loving each other, or the lovers are connected, powerful, or wealthy enough to successfully pressure authorities to back off. Anyone who thinks these relationships are limited to poverty-stricken dropouts is ignorant of reality, and chances are, some famous or successful people they admire have been in one.

Positive or neutral visibility matters. People need to know they're not alone, and those around them need to know this isn't a problem. The world will not end because people love each other. More fiction and nonfiction portrayals are needed. Nonfiction is still very difficult to produce, given the outrageous hatred still directed at these lovers. Protecting their identities might not make for ideal narratives, but it's usually going to be necessary in order to get their participation.

Consaguinamory is not something of which to be ashamed or to be kept out of our media, It's the haters who should be ashamed and who should be exposed as prejudiced and unreasonable.

Oklahoma Still Denying the Right to Marry

Yet again we see that not only are Americans still being denied their right to marry, but they're being denied their right to be together at all. Today's example comes from a report by Scott Rains at swoknews.com...

A biological mother and daughter are wanted for felony counts of incest after investigators say they married each other earlier this year.

Who exactly did it harm that they got married? And yet they are accused felons?

According to investigators, this is the second marriage for the mother to one of her children. 

Again, who are they hurting?

Felony arrest warrants were issued in Stephens County District Court charging Patricia Ann Spann, 43, and Misty Velvet Dawn Spann, 25, each with a count of incest, court records indicate. Each woman faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. 

Ten years in prison. For marrying. The Stephens County District Court is wasting public resources. This is infuriating. Friends of ours have been investigated, had children taken away, been charged with crimes for simply being adults in love with each other. We feel for these strangers.

The charge stems from the March 25 nuptials between the two women. In an affidavit filed in court, Duncan police Detective Dustin Smith stated that he began investigation Aug. 26 after an Oklahoma Department of Human Services Child Welfare Division investigator uncovered the information during the course of an investigation regarding children in the Spanns' Duncan house. 

Anyone can anonymously contact authorities and claim children are being neglected and abused. If an investigation reveals otherwise, great. If children are being abused or neglected, charge people with those crimes. Don't charge adults with crimes for exercising their fundamental rights. Since this news report doesn't include any allegations of child abuse or neglect, I'm assuming authorities didn't find children were being abused.

Patricia Spann indicated she is the biological mother of Misty Spann and two other males  all the product from a first marriage and that she'd lost custody of the children to their father's mother.

This sounds very familiar. The difference is that this woman apparently didn't realize there are still unconstitutional, bigoted discriminatory laws in place. Lovers still need to protect themselves.

Patricia Spann told the investigator that she didn't have contact with her biological children until about two years ago. When she reunited with Misty Spann, she found "they hit it off." 

This sounds like Genetic Sexual Attraction.

The two were married March 25 in Comanche County. She told the investigator she'd "looked into it" and, because her name was no longer listed on the birth certificate, she felt no law had been violated, according to the affidavit. 

Although it was possible to get a marriage license, unfortunately, the laws most states still have are problematic. One of the cruel things is that they probably wouldn't be treated as family if one of them ended up in the hospital.

Both women are aware of the biological relationship and have considered requesting an annulment. At no time during the questioning did Patricia Spann indicate she'd been married to her eldest son, Smith wrote.

Again, who was harmed by this? Let them all marry if they want. That's the way it'll been sooner or later. Get on the right side of history and stop wasting public resources attacking adults for loving each other.

If there is more to the story behind the paywall, I don't have access to it.

I see no good reason to deny these people their rights, throw them in jail, and break up their home.

Another Woman Denied Her Right to Marry

This blog has featured scores of exclusive interviews with lovers are denied the freedom to be open about their love and are, by law, denied the freedom to marry and have that marriage treated equally under the law.

The woman interviewed below is bright, attractive, and clearly able to consent to her relationship. She and her lover should be free to decide whether or not to legally marry. Yet they could be criminally prosecuted and face other forms of discrimination if the wrong people found out about their relationship. They are consenting adults who aren't hurting anyone; why should they be denied their rights?

Read the interview below and see for yourself what she has to say. You may think this relationship is interesting, or it might make you uncomfortable, or you might find it incredibly sexy, but whatever your reaction, should these lovers be denied equal access to marriage or any other rights?




*****


FULL MARRIAGE EQUALITY: Tell us about yourself.

Chloé: I was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I am 30 years old, female and I work as a dental hygienist. I have an older sister and a twin brother. I was married for about 2 years; now divorced.

GSA on British Soap EastEnders

British soap opera EastEnders appears to be exploring Genetic Sexual Attraction as a plot element.

Potential spoilers ahead if you're not call caught up!

The Courtney Mitchell character returned, and met Mark Fowler Jr., visiting from the US, and there seemed to be a connection.

Molly Rose Pike reported at dailystar.co.uk...

The cringeworthy flirting seemed like harmless banter to the group but viewers knew that something sinister was going on.
Courtney and Mark are actually half siblings but they’re not aware of this fact.

Sinister! Oh yes, terrible that they might be attracted to each other. How awful!