Poly Boston is a big, informal group that hosts events for the polyamory community, and the poly-curious, in the Greater Boston area. We hold discussions, dinner, and socials. To get connected, sign up for our announcements and chat lists and say hi!

What is polyamory?

Polyamory (or “poly”) means having, or being able to have, honest, ethical, respectful romantic relationships with more than one person at a time, with the full knowledge and approval of all concerned. Somewhat similar terms are “open relationships” and “responsible non-monogamy.” …

Poly versus Swinging

Polyamory is sometimes confused with swinging. In fact the two cultures are different. In general, people who self-identify as “poly” are strongly focused on relationships and are willing to take on serious emotional processing. People in the swing world (”the Lifestyle”) typically focus on recreational sex — often as couples attending organized swing parties while maintaining emotional monogamy. there are, of course, exceptions on both sides, as well as people who plant themselves various placed in between.

Here’s a shocker: the media has been positive toward the “Poly” movement. Again, from the Poly Boston flier:

Polyamory in the News. The last few years have seen an upswing in mainstream coverage, often surprisingly positive. It’s all collected at polyinthemedia.blogspot.com. In particular, see the big article in the Washington Post about Loving More’s Poly Living Convention (in the site’s Feb. 2008 archive). By the way, in the whole collection of about 300 articles, the very dumbest one was in, wouldn’t you know, the Boston Herald.

“San Francisco is a microcosm of the illness called liberalism. It’s the least tolerant city in the country. It’s the meanest city in the country.”

– Conservative talk show host Michael Savage, on his radio program “Savage Nation,” August 25, 2009. Savage is based in San Francisco.

Above is the twisted 2009 promotional poster for the annual Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco — a huge outdoor event celebrating sadomasochism and various perversions — at which hundreds if not thousands of men walk the streets fully or partially naked. At Folsom (scheduled for Sunday, Sept 27), it is commonplace to see men being publicly whipped and flogged to the delight of onlooking crowds. Nothing illustrates Savage’s quotation better than San Franciscans’ double standard on “tolerance.” Even many straights in the city take pride in its laissez faire embrace of Folsom and other perverse spectacles that to date have been coddled by the police, who do not enforce decency laws.

Curiously, even as they enable public nudity, the SFPD does a poor job of protecting dissenters’ rights in the city. Last year, the police failed to use their authority to allow a small Americans For Truth-led pro-family press conference condemning Folsom to go on civilly outside City Hall. Our outdoor press conference was shouted down in classic leftist fashion by veteran “queer” militant Michael Petrelis — as police ignored our request to give our free speech a forum to be heard. (In most big cities, police separate opposing protesters so that each side can exercise its free speech rights.) As you can see, Petrelis and fellow “queer” activists were allowed to shout over our press event with impunity; note his immature mimicking of oral sex and emphatic endorsement of nudity and sex in San Francisco’s streets.)

Proceeds from Folsom go to the anti-Catholic hate group Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence — which doubles as a pro-homosexual “charity” in San Francisco. The “Sisters” are homosexual men painted in drag who call themselves nuns (with perverted names) and who are insulted when you don’t treat them as a serious “religious order”; see photo of “Sister” at right and click HERE for more on the notorious church-bashing “charity.”

Let’s review … “Tolerance” for open-air perversions and public nudity — but none for peaceful, pro-family dissenters. Mean, sadistic sex in the streets, as cops stand idly by and politicians look the other way. Mean and intolerant activists like Michael Petrelis. Heck, even the “charities” are mean and blasphemous in the City by the Bay. (That includes the shocking, annual “Hunky Jesus Contest” mocking Jesus Christ every Easter Sunday.)

Michael Savage is right: San Francisco epitomizes all that is wrong with modern liberalism. — Peter LaBarbera, www.afthah.com

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The 2007 Folsom promotional poster (below) pushed the envelope even by jaded San Francisco standards in mocking Da Vinci’s painting of Christ’s Last Supper with his disciples. Those are “sex toys” on the table including a red fist representing the bizarre and dangerous sadistic act of “fisting.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D), a Catholic, couldn’t bring herself to denounce this blasphemous artwork in her own congressional district — much less the annual Folsom Fair itself that represents the worst of those much-derided “San Francisco values.” Click on photos to enlarge.

The graphic below is a question (one of 70) from the “National Survey on Transgender Experiences of Discrimination in the U.S.,” sponsored by the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Sort of makes you yearn for the good old days when people were either “male” or “female.” Come to think of it, they still are. You would practically need a PhD., to keep up with the ever-expanding array of gender identities that fall under the “T” umbrella in the “GLBT” (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) equation. Check out this mind-numbing Wikipedia entry attempting to define “Genderqueer.”

Note that the choices offered below do not comprise a comprehensive list of identities associated with GLBT movement, leading to an expansion of that acronym to “GLBTQQ” (the “QQ” stands for “Queer” and “Questioning”) and even longer combinations of letters. (Check out this Unitarian Universalists document, which on its front page also encourages sadomasochistic, prostitution and “non-monogamous” identities for young “queers.” Pure evil.) Here is the NCTE survey question:

The report states, “The results of the survey will be part of an important report on discrimination against transgender people by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force to help create better opportunities for transgender and gender non-conforming people. We are grateful to Penn State University’s Center for the Study of Higher Education for hosting the survey and maintaining the integrity of our data.”

The survey will be used to support pro-”transgender” legislative goals, including “hate crimes” legislation and “working to include transgender provisions in a federal bill to protect lesbian, gay and bisexual workers from discrimination in employment.” The latter refers to including “gender identity” provisions in the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) bill, which would federalize “sexual orientation” law for businesses and organizations.