I'm 28, living in the Twin Cities, MN. I play fairly well with "feral" polys, tho I'm personally pretty "tame." (Thanks to Eleanorofa's article for the terms!) I have been living in polyamorous relationships in one form or another for most of my life-- I sort of accidentally started out toward the end of junior-high school. I was most recently involved in a V-triad.
I'm sort of a hick. I grew up in the Midwest on farms and in rural areas; I like my cowboy boots and Stetson (though I rarely wear the hat anymore these days); and I'm a libertarian. I'd love to see the government get the hell out of my business. I'm also an entrepreneur: I owned my first small business at age 12, and I believe strongly that businesses treating their customers with respect will succeed over businesses "on the take".
Many (ok, MOST) of my personal views differ from the average poly or poly activist, which can be frustrating at times. But I believe I can strengthen our movement by bringing a new perspective to the table. The goal is bigger than any one person or argument, and I'm committed to working tirelessly until polys can live in a safer and more accepting world where people can be who they are in private AND public, without the humiliation or stigma that exists right now.
I believe that I can make a difference.
People have a right to be polyamorous and make their own decisions on how to live their lives. I'd like to feel accepted as a poly person in my everyday life, and be part of a society that accepts (and at least tolerates) lifestyles that they don't choose to live themselves.
I see alternative lifestyles becoming protected by government rights partially through removing the government from the process of marriage. If marriage can be returned to being a religious and social institution, in a greater separation of church and state, the religious marriage proponents won't feel the need to fight tooth and nail to hold on to their definition of marriage. It seems petty to me that people fight over a definition when the real issue is the people behind the arguments on either side. I think a lot of these old arguments on what marriage is just dredge up bad feelings from previous rights movements-- walking away from them can only help our cause. Then the government can sticks to managing taxes, legal rights, and things like that. I'd like to see a society that is willing to grant rights like tax adjustments and medical right of decision to a poly triad, quad, etc. that has been together long enough to justify registering for them.
I hope to attend Poly Living to network with other poly leaders, and hopefully be inspired by them as we're working together to bringing the movement forward... as well as lend to their passion for the poly community. I'm not really an organizer, though-- I leave that to the excellent organizational staff here at ModernPoly. ;) I'm just a businessman who happens to have a lot of technical experience. I function well on a "details" level and I plan to spend a lot of time talking with other leaders at the conference about possible new features and improvements that could be added under the ModernPoly banner to benefit the poly community. Hopefully my contributions will help get us one step closer to that day when we don't have to worry what the neighbors think.
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