I support the right for people to practice consensual non-monogamy

I read this an article on the “Oddly enough” wire of Reuters, All my moms love me, Utah kid tells polygamist rally. I’m annoyed that the story was on the “Oddly enough” wire, which is usually reserved for more lighthearted and funny fare.

Allies are important, even if they don’t fully support you or you don’t fully support them.

So it is from this perspective I needed to write my position publically.

The core argument, as I see it, for gay marriage is that a government should not interfere with the affairs of adults as long as those affairs do not causing unwanted harm to another adult, or intentional harm to a minor.

Its not that far of a leap to say that I’m a supporter of consensual non-monogamy, also known as polygamy. Honestly I think in fifteen to twenty years we’ll be discussing legalizing marriages between multiple people. It’ll take more legal wrangling and a huge code overhaul, but honestly government should get out of the way of people.

I think the thing that annoys me most about resistance to gay marriage and consensual non-monogamy is that the resistance comes from a core belief that people should follow a collection of mores, or “life scripts” as I prefer to call them. (E.g. For guys: Be Born, Go to school, Graduate from High School, Go to College, Graduate in four years, Find a Job, Find a Girl, Marry Girl, Have 2.5 children with said Girl, Raise children, Work some more, Retire, Enjoy playing Yatzee and Shuffleboard, Die.)

One may claim that I’m over simplifying things, but I’ve captured the essence of the expected mores in America, that make up the root of the argument against gay marriage and consensual non-monogamy. The societal objective at work is to encourage people to follow the system of mores, if you stray from them you’re looked upon a bit unfavorably. I’ve done a dandy job of straying from the “life-script” managing way too many years in too many colleges, a couple of boyfriends, and an impromptu move across the country. So I’m not a fan of enforcing, or even propagating life-scripts.

I think we should encourage diversity, that includes diversity in family structures.