We are the poly majority: negotiated, individualized, consensual, egalitarian.

Almost nobody who knows who we are wants to outlaw us, or bother us in any way. But a lot of people don’t know who we are. We must be seen.

The Problem

The law criminalizing “polygamy” was intended for others, and we now have a decision that it excludes a lot of us. But it doesn’t exclude all of us… and there are many, many other social issues for us. Among them the fact that Parliament COULD, under the judge’s reasoning, extend the law to outlaw egalitarian polyamory (or for that matter monogamy).

The most extreme patriarchal polygynists have been the “poster children” for the challenge. They are our polar opposite. They are a minority among the mutiply-partnered. They are probably a minority among the patriarchal minority itself. But the debate has been about them. Lots of Canadians don’t realize exactly how small a minority they are… or even that they’re a minority at all.

In fact, lots of people don’t even know what the law says; they think it forbids what they do, and not what any of us do. And nobody supports arranged child marriages to old men.

As long as people think of multiple partners in terms of Bad Guys, we’re not going to make much more progress on any front.

Like it or not, the face of “polygamy”, as many Canadians see it, is an ugly one… and a false one.

The Situation

Two levels of appeal are available in court. They could completely reverse the first decision, either criminalizing all of us or protecting all of us. And, appeal or no, our issue could end up in Parliament… which, under the present decision or using the Notwithstanding Clause, would be free to do pretty much anything it wanted.

This is a political battle, and political battles are won on perception. It’s critical that people know exactly who and what is really criminalized. Parliament and the public won’t think to protect us if they don’t know we exist.

Be Seen

We must be seen. And we must be seen as the majority. We need your help. You, personally, need to be as visible as you can.

It looks, for the moment, like must of us aren’t criminal. And none of us are what prosecutors WANT to attack. We can think about coming out of the shadows.

Do whatever you can. Come out wherever you can. Wear a badge. Write a letter. Join our advocacy team. Show your poly values. Whatever you do, be seen

Being effective

Tips on how to write letters to the Editor

Tips on how to write letters to your Elected Official

General advocacy skills help

http://www.results.org/skills_center/advocacy_how_tos/