Polyamorous marriage: Is there a future for three-way weddings?
A so-called "throuple" in Colombia have been hailed as having the first legal union between three men in the world. So will we see three-way marriages in the future?"Victor tells the bad jokes," says Manuel."Very bad," agrees his partner Alejandro."I tell the smart ones," says Manuel.Manuel José Bermúdez Andrade, Víctor Hugo Prada and Alejandro Rodríguez are all in a relationship together. They used to be four but their boyfriend Alex Esnéider Zabala died in 2014."The decision to marry was there before Alex died, the four of us wanted to get married," says Víctor. "Alex's cancer changed our plans. But I never gave up."When Alex died, the remaining three, who live in the Colombian city of Medellín, say they had to fight to be seen as his partners and get access to his pension. It made them all the more determined to get legal recognition of their relationship.
They are now planning their long-awaited wedding ceremony after a supportive lawyer signed a special legal document last month. "A document that tells us we are a family, and live together as three under the same roof, sharing a bed, a table, everything a family does," explains Víctor.
'Unimaginable'
The paperwork formalises their union, but it is not a full marriage certificate. Like in most countries - except those that accept polygamy - it is illegal to marry more than one person in Colombia. But Alejandro, Manuel and Víctor's legal success is a big step forward in a world where group marriage has been firmly off the agenda.Could cases like theirs signal the start of a concerted effort by campaigners to allow it?"The movement is absolutely going to develop if the activists so choose," says Hadar Aviram, a professor of law at University of California in the US.
What is a polyamorous relationship?
- A romantic relationship where those involved agree it is OK for everyone to be open to or have more than one romantic partner
- Some groups allow their members to seek additional partners, while others do not
- Distinctions are drawn with polygamy - or more specifically polygyny - in Muslim societies and fundamentalist Mormon communities when one man may have multiple wives, based on a perception this is inherently disempowering for women