Gay, Straight, Poly: Should Traditional Marriage Really Be Our Goal?

A few days after New York legalized same-sex marriage, I was in Madison, Wisconsin having a beer at a pub directly in front of its now famous capital with a longtime conservative friend. She mentioned her support of the newly passed law and explained that, since marriage is the foundation of American society, the more people who get married the better. As a reluctantly married queer woman who harbors strong feelings of disapproval toward the institution of marriage, I challenged my heterosexual, married friend’s assertion by asking her why it is necessary for the state to be involved in people’s love affairs. I expressed my consternation at our government’s use of the institution to shirk its own responsibility to provide basic necessities like universal healthcare to its citizenry and use false notions of ‘marital stability’ to bully poor people into unhealthy relationships through requirements for obtaining public assistance. Being an advocate of smaller government, my friend agreed that these regulations might at times overstep, but she held firm in her belief that promoting the necessity of marriage itself is the best way to garner social support for and legitimize gay and lesbian families, at least in the eyes of conservatives.

The conversation took an interesting turn when I inquired about marriage legalization for folks who practice polyamory. Following my friend’s pro-marriage logic, poly relationships should be institutionalized too in order to better support the needs of our society. Of course, that conclusion was deeply unappealing to my friend, who replied that if same-sex marriage advocates don’t want to lose their hard-won conservative support, they should take care not to embrace those who advocate institutionalizing polyamory. I told her my money was on poly marriage being the next step. Sure enough, by the time I returned to New York City, it had hit the news that Sister Wives star Kody Brown had filed a lawsuit in Utah challenging the state’s ban on polygamy.

Although Brown’s lawyer issued statements intending to assuage the fear that his client’s lawsuit would demand polygamous marriage, the success of Brown’s case will certainly pave the way for subsequent suits to do just that – a slippery slope which no doubt makes some folks nervous and others enormously excited.

While a spate of articles have focused on whether the struggle for poly acceptance is the new gay marriage, others are lambasting the institution of marriage and calling for a broadening of socially acceptable relationships in general and questioning the usefulness of our currently defined categories. With all the focus on marriage, some wonder, will previous--and extremely practical--categories like domestic partnership go extinct? And is that a good thing?

With so many new issues and options being brought bear, perhaps it’s time to pay more attention to those who don’t tow the pro-marriage party line and make an effort to understand why.

1. How to live happily unmarried: Alternatives to Marriage Project.

Concerned with undoing discriminatory laws, regulations, and business practices, the Alternatives to Marriage Project (www.unmarried.org) works to change public policy and social stigma that demonizes unmarried families. The nonprofit organization supports immigration legislation that unites families regardless of marital relationship, advocates for domestic partnership benefits irrespective of sexual orientation, and challenges coercive welfare benefit requirements that promote marriage as an escape from poverty. Although based in New York City, the group works nationwide on a state and federal level to make sure children are able to be adopted by all loving couples, tax codes are fair across income level, families are not unjustly denied housing, and government employees receive the health benefits they deserve.