You know, Stacey, I agree with you that it is not in our interest to do
anything to torpedo the process of justice for GLBT. And I have no desire
for rhe UUA to mount any big public campaign for the acceptance of
polyamory. I'd just like to have some internal denominational
acknowledgement that UU inclusiveness should cover poly families as well as
every other sort.
-----Original Message-----
From: "Stacey Greenstein" <stacey.nj@gmail.com>
To: "uupoly-l@uupa.org" <uupoly-l@uupa.org>
Sent: 6/21/07 06:20
Subject: Re: [UUPoly-L] GA Day 1
Second woman: "I was at the Pacific Northwest Dictrict Annual General
Meeting last winter in Boisie, and I was in the room when you made your
confrontation of UUA President Bill Sinkford. I just want you to know
that
I thought his answer to you was a crappy one. How could a black man
seriously tell another oppressed minority that they need to wait their
turn--that it's not yet their time for justice?"
Actually, this is no surprise. Check out Wikipedia's article on the
history
of US voting rights<
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_rights_in_the_United_States>.
There was no way, back in 1870, when suffrage was granted to non-white
men,
that women could be included. It would have lost the fight for women and
blacks alike. It is a sound policy to work to establish one freedom before
moving onto another, no matter how related, lest both freedoms never be
gained.
I don't want to lose any ground on the BGLT front just because the
polyamory
battle also needs to be fought. And especially since the BGLT work being
done lays down a good deal of ground work for polyamory justice in the
future. Remember, BGLT justice is a very *big* hurdle to get over. There
are
folks out there that think BGLT people are the devil incarnate, or his
minions come to seduce "good wholesome folks" into the devil's hands.
What we can work on, right now, is to help Sinkford, et al, to talk with
us
better, so that this message comes across to him, and so that he can
assure
us better that polyamory justice is indeed something the UUA should be
interested in fighting for. Even if it's just for him to acknowledge the
irony your visitor pointed out. The only problem I have of Sinkford even
coming *that* far is having that message get out beyond our hallowed halls
and into the mainstream media, fueling the fires of those who would deny
us
our freedoms.
(And I'm dreadfully missing GA for the 2nd year in a row. *sigh*)
Stacey aka Uther
On 6/21/07, Moonstorm Erosong <mnstrm@erosong.net> wrote:
>
> So, here we are, half a day into General Assembly. I was the UUPA booth
> in the exhibit hall for most of the time from 12:00 noon til 7:00 PM,
and
> already I have a bunch of interesting encounters to report.
>
> First woman: "I'm an OWL facilitator trainer, and before your
> presentation in Boston I didn't think I could bring myself to talk to
kids
> about polyamory. But after hearing your presentation, I was able to
> understand what it was all about, and I said to myself, 'I can talk
about
> this'."
>
> Second woman: "I was at the Pacific Northwest Dictrict Annual General
> Meeting last winter in Boisie, and I was in the room when you made your
> confrontation of UUA President Bill Sinkford. I just want you to know
that
> I thought his answer to you was a crappy one. How could a black man
> seriously tell another oppressed minority that they need to wait their
> turn--that it's not yet their time for justice?"
>
> Third woman: "After your presentation at the Boston GA, there was a
> national newspaper article about polyamory among UUs. At our next
Sunday
> church service this newspaper article was mentioned from the pulpit,
saying
> people could expect to be asked questions about it. Someone said,
perhaps
> we should talk about how we would answer such questions. Some people
said,
> yes, but this is not the time during the church service. Then others
said,
> no, this is the perfect time to talk about it. And then there was a
twenty
> minute discussion involving everybody, and some people said, it's not
enough
> that we affirm worth and dignity generally--we must be able to affirm
the
> worth and dignity of these people (polys) specifically. After the
> discussion we went back to the church service program."
>
> A young couple: "We're partners, but we live a long way apart and don't
> get to see each other very much. We're really wondering if having an
open
> relationship might enable us to sustain our love across the great
> distance. We've been looking for a source of information about
polyamory."
>
> A man: "I'm the business manager of UU World Magazine, and it's nice to
> have your ad in every issue."
>
> Another young man: "Didn't you talk in a workshop at the Long Beach
> GA? It made a big difference for me to hear the problems that the poly
> woman who spoke was having with being poly in her church."
>
> Another man: "Oh! I thought it said 'pulmonary'.."
>
> I had numerous other contacts with people who didn't know what polyamory
> was when they walked up to our booth, but left thanking us for being
there.
>
> Folks, in a few short hours I got to see that what we're doing is having
a
> tangible impact on the hearts and minds of UUs accross the
country. I'll
> keep you informed.
>
> Bear, our table is in booth 328 in the exhibit hall, off to the far left
> as you enter the hall, right next to the interweave booth and accross
the
> isle from a beautiful display of chalice artists. Please come by and
see
> us.
>
> Blessings,
>
> 'Storm
> Moonstorm Erosong
> mnstrm@erosong.net
>
> P.S.: In the opening ceremonies Wednesday evening, there was, as usual,
a
> lot said about the UUA's intention to become accepting and inclusive of
all
> diversity--GLBT, persons with disabilities, people of all races. Not a
word
> about people who chose multipartner families. We still have a lot of
work
> to do.
> _______________________________________________
> The UUPoly-L mailing list has public archives.
> Please keep that in mind when deciding how much to reveal about
yourself.
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> http://www.uupa.org/mailman/listinfo/uupoly-l
>
--
a guy named Stacey
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