LGBTQIA vs. GSRM

I think all Gender, Sexual, and Relationship Minorities (GSRM) suffer when they are pitted against each other with some groups being excluded. The LGBTQIA acronym keeps growing but it still excludes many folks who do not identify as cultural normative. Many people (like Dan Savage) have suggested just using the term queer, but then say poly people are not queer. Gender, Sexual, and Relationship Minorities are the only minorities that have to fight for legal protection and rights one sub-group at a time. That's why I prefer GSRM over LGBTQIA. We are stronger when we stand together and inclusivity, in my opinion, builds strength and power.

As Matthew Bobbu said, "Much as Martin Luther King didn’t fight for black rights, he fought for racial equality; I don’t fight for poly rights, I fight for the freedom to participate in any consensual relationship one might wish to – with the exclusion of none.”

That said, there is no reason one has to choose. Different labels are appropriate for different discussions because they mean different things in different contexts.

For a Dead Kitten

Put the rubber mouse away,
Pick the spools up from the floor,
What was charcoal shod, and gay,
Will not want them, any more.

What was warm, is strangely cold.
Whence dissolved the little breath?
How could this small body hold
So immense a thing as Death?

Sara Henderson Hay (adapted for Harry)

Bobbu on Poly

Dawn Davidson has quoted Matthew Bobbu as defining polyamory this way:

“I define polyamory as ‘the belief in and/or practice of multiple loving relationships, with the full knowledge and consent of those involved.’ I don’t define the sort of relationship anyone has to have, how they have to structure their relationships, what kind of sex they can have, or what sort of love need be involved. For me, to do otherwise will strengthen the cause of a vocal minority at the expense of the quieter majority, who may not even realise that we’re fighting for their freedoms too.
Much as Martin Luther King didn’t fight for black rights, he fought for racial equality; I don’t fight for poly rights, I fight for the freedom to participate in any consensual relationship one might wish to – with the exclusion of none.”

I really like this definition! I know and respect that it may differ from many other people's definition. That's okay. This works for me.
Also, I believe the meaning of the word changes with context. It is common in the English language, for a word to have more than one meaning and it's common for people to disagree on the definition of a word. Take, for example, the word "sex." As Bill Clinton made clear, folks still have not come to a universal consensus definition on what specifically is, and what is not, sex.
I am not going there, at least not now...

We cannot be silent

Polyish

Polyish: A space between polyamory & monogamy that is intense & intimate loving "friendships." Neither poly nor mono seems to fit. This is different that what is often labeled monogamish, a term that can often mean occasional sexual nonmonogamy.

Polyish relationships tend to be medium to long term, but don't have to be. They are emotionally intense & intimate relationships with people we love, whom we are committed to being there for, spending time with, loving, being emotionally vulnerable to, supporting, and nurturing each other in a way that would be culturally inappropriate in a monogamous context. Polyish friendships are not what some poly folks would consider to be polyamory. They may choose the label friends, but seem like more than friends, tends to have have some romantic alchemy, but not what is considered partners in a sexual or poly context.

I have also called this polylite.

This is similar to the quasiplatonic (aka queerplatonic) except that quasiplatonic tends not to have any or much romantic alchemy.

Thoughts on privacy

I think privacy is dead, that closets are going to be a thing of the past soon. Data is going to be increasingly insecure. We have seen it already, remember the Ashley-Madison hack as well as Clinton's emails?

I think we are all going to have our secrets dragged out into the open or stop using technology. Technology is going to force us to choose between transparency and convenience or isolation. Since technology is how we connect with one another, there really will not be a choice.

We are building an insecure, interconnected big-data society where people's habits, gender identity, sexual and relationship orientations, fantasies, fetishes and choice of partners will be laid bare. Since everyone will be revealed to be different the novelty of being different will be gone. We'll be just accepted as who we are. Everybody will be living in glass houses. We already are in fact, we just haven't embraced it.

I think the inability to hide or lie, and not get caught, is REALLY going to change how we view things like non-monogamy & sex work. I think people will have to be more honest & that is already happening & it is a really good thing.

This is bad for cheaters but great for polyamory. As cheating becomes more difficult, then impossible, I think polyamory will become the default model for non-monogamy.

Book Review: Coming Out Like A Porn Star, by Jiz Lee

Jiz Lee's book is an excellent anthology of over 55 short stories written by people in the adult-film industry. It's about their lives and experiences "coming out" to the significant "vanilla" people in their lives.

Sophia and I first heard about this book at the 2016 CatalystCon West Conference where Jiz Lee was giving a presentation about the book. Lee's presentation included several of the authors of stories in their book. This presentation changed forever our perception of porn stars and the adult-film industry.

The thing that most impressed us is how educated, intelligent and well spoken they are. The common misconception that all porn stars are either trafficked or do porn out of desperation was quickly obliterated. These porn stars are smart cookies all who do porn by choice as part of their sexual expression as well as as a job. They love their work.

Porn stars are a sexual minority. In my opinion, this book matters for more than porn stars. This is a really important book for all sexual minorities. The consequences the writers wrote about that many suffered as a result of coming out points to the fact that there still are legally unprotected sexual minorities beyond those currently defined and protected as LGBTQIA. That's why this is such an important book not just for porn stars. For example, folks who are in consensually non-monogamous relationships do not currently have legal protections from discrimination.

The biggest question I had in reading this book, and meeting these authors, though, was; why can't people in our society just let people be who they are and accept other people as they are? I mean really; why should there be this much agony about people being open about their work, gender expression, sexual and relationship orientation?

Until that happens; in the real world, all sexual minorities need legal protection from discrimination in their housing, financial lives and employment.

This is an excellent and important book. I highly recommend it!