Remember David Crosby? He was the guitar player and singer with the Byrds and Crosby Stills & Nash. He was a legend for his walrus mustache, mounds of frizzy hair, and clouds of marijuana smoke. He wrote a song back in 1967 called “Triad” whose lyrics were so revolutionary that the Byrds refused to put it on their “Notorious Byrd Brothers” album. The Jefferson Airplane members weren’t nearly so shy. They put “Triad” on “Crown of Creation” the next year. Here’s a verse:
You want to know how it will be–
Me and her or you and me.
You both sit there with your long hair flowing;
Your eyes alive, your minds are still growing,
Saying to me, “What can we do now that we
Both love you? I love you, too.
But I don’t really see, “Why can’t we go on as three?”
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If advocates of the, ahem, ménage a trois need an anthem, this will do.
If you think that the ménage a trois or quatre or whatever is a fringe behavior practiced by only a few flakes in our country, you might want to have a look at Newsweek’s July article “Only You. And You. And You.” The practice of taking up residence with two or more permanent or semi-permanent lovers/spouses has a name that is new to my personal vocabulary. Can you say Polyamory? The article quotes a social scientist who estimates that a half million Americans are in a “poly” relationship right now.
They are pretty well organized on the internet. Support literature is growing. I guess I wouldn’t be surprised if poly activists start demanding the right to poly marriage. Gay marriage advocates are nervous that poly advocates will spoil their “progress.” After all, once you let go of the Bible’s principle of one man/one woman in marriage, any aggrieved minority can demand that the M-word and its benefits should apply to them. If society legitimizes gay marriage, why not polyamory? Or for that matter why not polygamy?
Since some poly ménages have children, should they be allowed to adopt?
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Straight talk. Real hope.
