Catholic University’s LGBT Center hosts event on polyamory
DePaul University recently hosted an informational event on polyamory at its LGBTQA Resource Center.
A flyer for the “Polyamory Pause” event described the event as “a dialogue on open relationships and polyamory.”
The event sought to “dig past the surface conversation surrounding polyamory and open relationships” and examine “the ways soisl [sic] identity impact the conversations and the embodiment of open and polyamous [sic] relationships.”
Polyamory is a type of dating that allows one member to openly date others while seeing a primary person. Among the topics explored included the differences between polygamy and polyamory; the differences between entering a real, polyamorous dating scene and cheating on others; and having a partner who has “primary” and “secondary” partners.
“I never liked relationships or wanted to be in one really because I felt like they had to be monogamous, that’s just what I knew, that’s what everyone around me experienced, that’s what I, like, felt, and I just knew that I didn’t wanna deal with. All the expectations that come with that, all the baggage. I feel like this is a more natural way,” one participant explained.
“I was never super into marriage, either,” the student added. “Like, I can’t make up my mind what I want to eat at Chipotle, like, how am I supposed to commit to one person, right?”
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Some students attended the event to learn more about this type of dating, whereas others were more familiar with it, having dated others that are polyamorous or practicing polyamory themselves.
“When I was younger, I never had a vision of being with one person forever,” another student remarked. “Right now I am in a relationship that is monogamous for like, compulsory monogamy reasons, but I think that we both know and talk about it that I think I see that changing.”
“We love each other; we say we love each other,” one participant said, but added that they still receive “judgement from people that I don’t love my partner” because the relationship is not monogamous.
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According to The Daily Caller, universities across the nation have attempted to mainstream polyamory by hosting similar events event to the one at DePaul.
At Vanderbilt University, for example an LGBT event titled “Deconstructing Couplehood” was billed as a “crash course in polyamory” that would “‘deconstruct the ‘ideal’ and privileged relationship (that is straight, monogamous, married or heading that way, presumably white and middle to upper class), and look towards the other myriad ways to love and form community.”
The University of Michigan, similarly, held an event called “Navigating Relationships: Routing Our Own Courses” as part of its LGBTQ+ Health and Wellness Week, advertising the event as “a facilitated discussion-style workshop on navigating healthy relationships, with an emphasis on polyamory and relationships involving asexual and/or aromantic partners.”
Campus Reform reached out to the Student Affairs office to find out how the event was funded, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @emfrappelatte
