Poly-Baiting: Why We Need a More Inclusive LGBTQ Movement

[silver_sandals]

Poly-Baiting: Why We Need a More Inclusive LGBTQ Movement

by Vivienne Chen

Anti-LGBTQ campaigners have often used the issue of polyamory-or rather, a twisted media presentation of “polygamy,” which is distinct from ethical nonmonogamy and polyamory-as a slippery slope argument against LGBTQ equality, particularly when it comes to marriage.

The worse

Comments

[rex_dart]

If you aren’t squeamish about standing behind a poly-inclusive LGBT movement

Polyamory does not make one queer any more than asexuality does so what exactly is this person asking for?

This article is really noncommital and wishy-washy and if this person wants to argue that polyamorous people are a marginalized class on par with queer people, they should fucking say it instead of dancing around the issue.

[mycenaes]

yes to all of this.

/waits for wank and gets popcorn

[silver_sandals]

I thought it was pretty clearly asking for LGB activists to stop distancing themselves from the poly community, since a lot of the goals are very similar- recognition of relationships and family units, for example.

[thecityofdis]

since a lot of the goals are very similar

In print, yes, certainly.

In practice, not really. The legal goals and solutions sought by the poly community are ENTIRELY different, and require entirely different approaches to legislation.

Which is why the connection strikes me as tenuous, at best.

[rex_dart]

"Stop distancing" is a pretty vague request when you're talking about a very broad marginalized group and their political movements. Does this person want us to take up some sort of cause on behalf of poly people? It certainly seems that they're trying to insert "poly" into "queer" with passive-aggressive statements like "Couples in open relationships have lost their jobs and even custody of their children after people around them outed them as polyamorous. Sound familiar?"

[stalkedbychibis]

It seems less about 'trying to insert "poly" into "queer"' than it is asking to acknowledge that there can be and is an overlap, and not to, as the article says, throw them under the bus.

[casketscratcher]

Please tell me how us mean queers are throwing poly people under a bus.

[rex_dart]

The proper response to "queer rights lead to a, b, and c" is "those things are unrelated and that is a stupid idea you would have to be stupid to believe". Queer people are not throwing anyone under a bus by not choosing to shift the focus from "you are telling lies that hurt people like me" to "but what about that other group?"

[crossfire]

THANK YOU.

THAT is what I have been trying to articulate. jfc me and the Backspace Mamba.

[mollywobbles867]

Erm, I'm not sure about that. Personally, polyamory (as opposed to religious bigamy and polygamy) is fine by me as long as everyone is a consenting adult. However, it's not really the queer community's job to pick up every non-heteronormative relationship type and include it in the already heavy burden of fighting for LGBTQ rights. There are lots of types of relationships that fall outside one man and one woman. Doesn't mean they're queer.

[silver_sandals]

And yet feminists are expected to fight for the rights of all women, so why shouldn't queer activists be expected to fight for the rights of all queer people?

[colliedlight]

Tell me again how the "poly community" is queer? I am hazy.

[silver_sandals]

I AM QUEER AND ALSO POLY. IT IS POSSIBLE TO BE BOTH.

I'm sorry, this is getting a bit frustrating.

It's like everyone is saying that because some queer people are men feminists shouldn't respect queer issues.

[colliedlight]

Poly is a separate issue from queer surely? I don't see how lgbt activists should automatically be including poly in their rhetoric or call to action.

That's a pretty bad analogy. One of these things is not like the other.

[silver_sandals]

No one's asking them too, just to -not- tear down poly people and their relationships in an attempt to seem more 'normal'- two people of the same gender can marry, that's normal, but not three, that's like bestiality! we're not like that! --no, i -am- like that.

[colliedlight]

I read that article as calls to action instead of internal prejudices arguments.

See, if you're saying people should stop judging other people's relationships in general, then absolutely. But if you're saying lgbtq activists should automatically jump to the aid of someone in a labeled open relationship because they face queer persecution, I'm going to say fuck no. Sexual preference =/= relationship type.

On that note, would you say the same about kinksters? I've heard some arguments there that their sexual preferences and lifestyle should be a source of activism like lgbtq issues too.