As a great movie once reminded us, “Things change. People change. Hairstyles change.”
And as the planet’s people transform, so go relationships.
A mere few years ago, there were only hims and hers and straight, bi- and gay.
Now we have eys, yos, xies, ves and bunselves, who may or may not be demigender, pansexual and/or neurodivergent minor.
A glimpse at the increasing complexity:
I could dunk on this, but honestly, look at what our culture does to our young. This video is of prey, not predator. By destroying normative, life-giving boundaries, we are subjecting our young to endless delusion and vain searching. Revival, revelation, and reason can heal. https://t.co/epMZG9q5rJ
— Andrew T. Walker (@andrewtwalk) August 2, 2021
And as we evolve, no one should be stunned if their local ferris wheel’s seats get conspicuously widened.
They may need to, in accommodation of a cotton-candy eating romantic trio or quartet.
Romance isn’t dead; in fact, it’s multiplied.
Hence, prepare for the expanding popularity of polyamory.
According to Harvard Law Today, the open-minded approach to amour is being endorsed by one of America’s most prestigious law schools.
HLT profiles 2021 Master of Law graduate Natasha Aggarwal, who last spring “didn’t know much about polyamory.”
The India native had come stateside to study feminist theory.
She was working at the school’s LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic, which was supporting a new organization: the Polyamory Legal Advocacy Coalition (PLAC).
“Now,” Natasha assures, “I feel very, very strongly about it.”
As it turns out, polyamorous people are being mechanically marginalized.
“People have been fired from work because their boss discovered they were polyamorous,” says Aggarwal, who is continuing her work as a summer fellow in the clinic. “It’s a problem for health insurance, for living arrangements such as leases and deeds,” she says, naming “a few of the areas that need legal protection.”
PLAC was launched in late 2020 by a psychologist and five lawyers.
One of those attorneys was Alexander Chen, Harvard Law lecturer and founding director of the LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic.
Polyamory comes in many forms, HLT notes, but at its core is “the idea that people should be able to choose how they shape their families, including how many consenting adults they wish to be included.”
Per PLAC’s website, the group “seeks to advance the civil and human rights of polyamorous individuals, communities, and families through legislative advocacy, public policy, and public education. These rights include the legal recognition of diverse relationship structures, such as multi-partner/multi-parent families, diverse family structures, and relationships involving consensual non-monogamy, and the end of discrimination based on relationship status.”
So should we expect a new color on the Pride flag representing love triangle geometers?
If so, they’d better hurry; pigmentation’s at a premium.
“Intersex” had to resort to a shape:
The Progress #Pride #LGBTQ+ flag has been updated to be more inclusive and to better represent the intersex community. RT if you like the new design! 🏳️🌈 #Pride2021 pic.twitter.com/8tDQSwTiTs
— Pride (@Pride) June 8, 2021
There’s already a pride flag solely for the polyamorous, AKA people who want — in defiance of the ol’ “have your cake and eat it, too” admonition — to enjoy multiple pieces of pi:
I was today years old when I discovered the polyamory pride flag pic.twitter.com/vIpVwmB3up
— Rohan Zhou-Lee (@diaryofafirebrd) August 11, 2020
The “P” word’s certainly gotten more press the past couple years.
Case in point:
Other stories range from the down-and-out…
…to the terribly tragic:
Of course, not everyone’s into it:
But the APA’s on board:
The American Psychological Association Creates a Task Force to Promote Polyamorous Relationships
https://t.co/KCB50QTGDK— RedState (@RedState) July 12, 2019
And being included in “LGBTQ+…”? That’s the big time.
So is receiving support from Harvard Law.
In part courtesy of Harvard-assisted PLAC, multi-love is also getting props from politicians:
In 2020 and 2021, three Boston-area municipalities — the city of Somerville followed by Cambridge, and the town of Arlington — became the first in the country to extend the legal definition of domestic partnerships to include polyamorous relationships. PLAC worked on both the Cambridge and Arlington efforts, and is now working with advocates in California on domestic partnerships and non-discrimination legislation.
LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic Director Alexander is psyched:
“[PLAC] is one of several projects we have that are blowing up, so we’ll have plenty of work (in the fall).”
Surely everyone involved is filled with…pride.
Times are changing. And in our new era of eroticism, it takes a village.
Or at least a cluster.
Cupid had better buy a bigger quiver; the country’s coming love connections are gonna require multiple arrows.
-ALEX
See more pieces from me:
University Removes Its Racist Rock, but There’s Always More Woke to Be Done
WATCH: Virginia School Video Tells 2nd Graders a Key to Feeling Safe Is Zero Police
Find all my RedState work here.
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