Polyamorous Political Activism Conclave: Feb 23, 2014: Berkeley, CA
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This an update about the meeting of polyamorous political activists happening on Feb 23, 2014, in Berkeley, California (USA). We had a good crowd last year (about 50 people), and it was very productive, so we are doing it again this year.
Much of significance seems to be happening on the political front that concerns poly people.
For instance, in California, a few weeks back, the state legislature approved a law making it legal for a child to have three (or more) legal parents, and the law was signed by the Governor. Although the issues that inspired this law were not specifically related to polyamory, the existence of such a law has obvious implications for poly families. (Several other jurisdictions currently have similar laws, and more may be under consideration).
In Oregon, a judge recently granted legal custody of a child to an openly polyamorous family - despite the court being fully aware of the polyamorous character of the family. The court did this over the vocal objections of people who were fiercely against the idea.
In countries such as Brazil and Holland, government officials have legally sanctioned domestic partnerships that include three or more people. In Kenya, a woman officially married two simultaneous husbands, with the full knowledge and blessing of both husbands. (The jury is still out on whether the Kenyan government will ultimately accept this or not).
There are several lawsuits in various stages attempting to decriminalize polygamy in the US, Canada, and elsewhere. Most of these are driven by Mormon polygamists, not polyamorous people, and the outcome remains uncertain. However, the way this all eventually plays out could have profound implications for polyamorous people.
There have already been several articles in very conservative publications lamenting that polyamory has already made remarkable progress towards becoming a mainstream phenomena.
It seems that polyamory has recently become a favorite new topic of many Christian Right Wing commentators. It is not clear what is going on, but suddenly it seems they want to talk about polyamory much more than they used to. The basic spin seems to be that since the Religious Right has more or less completely failed in its efforts to prohibit same-sex marriage, they seem to be shifting gears, regrouping and trying to put the best face on this defeat by claiming it only proves they were right all along by warning that legalizing Gay marriage would open the door to legalizing poly marriage.
Is there really a movement intending to legalize poly marriage? If so, who is behind it? Is this something that is possible to achieve? Is it something the poly community wants to achieve? Is it something poly people should be putting effort into? Or might there more productive ways we could focusing our efforts?
It seems that the time has come to talk of many things, and with that in mind, we have scheduled our next polyamorous political conclave in Berkeley, California on Feb 23, 2014. (This is immediately following the International Conference on the Future of Monogamy and Nonmonogamy, but it is technically a separate event, and require a separate registration process).
Interested in participating? Want to offer your input about poly political activism? Got an interesting project you want to tell the rest of us about? Need some support for your own polyactivism efforts? Interested in sharing your ideas? Want to offer your support to other poly activists? Interested in making a presentation? We would like to have as wide a range of perspectives as possible. The schedule is still being put together, but we still have a few presenter slots open. If you want to attend, contact me ASAP!
LINK FOR POLYAMOROUS POLITICAL CONCLAVE:
https://sites.google.com/site/saturniaregnahome/
LINK FOR INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE FUTURE OF MONOGAMY AND NONMONOGAMY:
Polyamorous Political Activism Conclave: Feb 23, 2014: Berkeley, CA