[UUPoly-L] GA Day 2

["Moonstorm Erosong" <mnstrm@erosong.net>]

So, where shall I start?  At the beginning, I guess.  I went to the plenary session this morning and heard President Sinkford's annual report, which focused to a significant extent on efforts to extinguish racism in the UUA, as well as on efforts to promote growth in our congregations.
 
After that I went to a workshop on something called the "Church Census," which turned out to be a canned survey instrument to be given to members of a church to collect information on the nature and needs of families in the church.  The survey had been developed originally for Christian churches, and has been adapted somewhat to the needs of UU congregations.  During the Q&A period, I asked the presenter, a program consultant for the Prairie Star District office, "What if any changes do you think would have to be made in this instrument to capture the needs of multi-adult-partnered families, such as group marriages?"  His answer was that in the modifications they'd made so far they had removed all uses of the term "couple," and had introduced the term "Spousal like relationships" to describe committed relationships of whatever number.  He said that he was not entirely satisfied with the changes made so far, but thought that polyamorous families could at least find most of the questions answerable in a meaningful way.  What pleased me as much as anything else was the fact that he himself used the term "polyamorous," which I had not used in framing my question.
 
Later on I ran into the same man in the hall, and he greeted my warmly and said, "Thank you for your excellent question.  We're still very early in the process of adapting this survey, and we definitely want to produce something that will not exclude any kind of family in our cogregations."
 
Back in the exhibit hall I chatted with a lady at the table of the Liberal Religious Educators'  Association (LREDA).  She said she was familiar with the idea of polyamory and believed that it was very important that UU religious education should include material fostering the understanding and acceptance of polyamory amongst UU children.  It would be wonderful, she said, if children's books could be written depicting children in polyamorous families.
 
I also chatted with a program manager at the table of the UUA office of Identity-Based Ministries, which has been tasked with promoting acceptance of diversity in UU churches regarding LGBTQ, racial and cultural diversity, and persons with disabilities.  I told her that UUPA would love to have a dialog with her office regarding the possibility of explicitly including polyamorous people in their list of diversity concerns.  She said she knew of polyamory but was not as well educated about it as she would like to be.  She came by the UUPA booth later and picked up some of our brochures to further her education.
 
I spent a good deal of time at our UUPA booth during the day, and we were generally pretty busy chatting with passers-by about polyamory.  Many knew something about poly already; many didn't, and got their first introduction to the idea right there at our table.  Some clearly found the idea troubling, but others readily agreed that it was lifestyle choice deserving of dignity and respect.
 
On the other hand, one of our own UUPA members from the Portland area told me a harrowing story of how his own UU minister had lambasted him for his choice of a polyamorous life.  Apparently she thinks polyamory is exploitative of women.
 
Blessings,
 
'Storm
Moonstorm Erosong
mnstrm@erosong.net