Smith College's newspaper, The Sophian, features an ongoing column called Sex and the Smithie written by a different anonymous author each week. Last week's column is entitled Hear me out, I'm polyamorous and proud! (free registration may be required).
This student does an excellent job of dispelling myths about polyamory while also asking for understanding from their community. By drawing comparisons between poly people and other marginalized groups, the student author hopes that readers will better understand what it means to identify as poly.
So, yes, I'm coming out as poly. Before you commit to that visceral revulsion, I ask that you take a moment to draw a parallel. A romantic situation that's not socially acceptable. An orientation that you feel you have to keep secret. Something your religion prohibits. It disgusts some people. It's "wrong." You just feel this way; you can't help it. How are you going to find a partner? It is not the social default. You may even try to have a normative relationship. You struggle with how to tell your family and friends. Sound familiar to anyone?
. . . my point is that I find some very relatable parallels to being LGBTQ. It's non-normative, you might initially think your inclinations make you a bad person, and only relatively recently has it become not completely unspeakable and taboo. And, yeah, it's not for everyone. Plenty of people are heterosexual, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that; just please don't try to make me like you. We feel the same way about monogamy: there's nothing wrong with it, just please don't tell me my orientation is sick or wrong.
It's always great to hear how young people and students navigate polyamory, and this is a wonderful example of "coming out" with pride.
