(Group Marriage, Mate-Sharing, Multipartner Relationships, Polyamory, Polyandry, Polyfidelity, Polygamy, Polygyny, Polyintimacy, Open Marriage or Relationships, or Responsible Non-Monogamy or Nonmonogamy)

T he 372 member Greater Seattle Poly Potluck Discussion and Support Group is for adult individuals, couples, and groups of all family structures, sexual orientations, races, religions, beliefs, genders (born, in transition or transformed), sizes, disability or different ability, incomes, diets (or Die with a 't' at the end to some folks), or lifestyles (including alternative lifestyles such as BDSM) who are curious about or currently practice polyamory, polygamy, polyandry, polygyny, polyfidelity, polyintimacy, responsible non-monogamy, multipartner relationships, sharing their mates with others, open marriage, and/or group marriage and wish to identify local resources, books and magazines to read, and to meet, discuss, philosophize, and trade stories and experiences with like-minded people.

If you have a partner, it is customary to tell them that you are going to this meeting or to bring them. Events are child-free due to where we are meeting. Events at the facility are on the main floor which means we are now 'handicap' and wheelchair, walker, or mobility accessible including the bathrooms.

Approximately 52 people came to the last potluck and meeting and 41 for the one before that one. We recomend that you read the Polyfidelity Primer and/or Love Without Limits (in the King County libraries and possibly in the Pierce County, and Snohomish-Island County libraries) and/or visit the Society for Human Sexuality Web site to read some FAQs about polyamory (and lots of other interesting topics). If you can not find these books at your library, please defeat censorship and submit a purchase request.

A nonymity is respected. An e-mail list at yahoogroups.com (not a discussion list) for announcements of events and activites (and future change of meeting location, so it is a good idea to sign up, hint, hint) is only maintained.

If you don't have access to a computer, most libraries have some public terminals and you can get a free e-mail account on either Yahoo or Hotmail. To subscribe to our monthly e-mail list of announcements of poly and poly-friendly events in Western Washington, please click here.

If you have a computer at home and live in Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, the Eastside, or most portions of King, Snohomish, Thurston, and Pierce County and Western Washington and some portions of Eastern Washington and would like free 56K Internet access, you might want to download the No Charge program, a poly and kink friendly ISP.

Or you can establish a free email and web page account through the user supported Seattle Community Network which has no ads (donations requested) but is a local call in most of the Puget Sound/King County area. Applications are available at most Seattle and King County libraries or from the SCN web page. You can Telnet to it as well. If you do use them, please remember to donate something once a year or join their sister organization Seattle Community Network Association. We do.

W e meet for a potluck meal and small group discussion afterwards every third Sunday evening from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. at a poly-friendly location near the Queen Anne - Magnolia bridge on the west side of Queen Anne in Seattle. A poly party follows our events.

We meet at the Center for Sex Positive Culture also known as the Wet Spot: Seattle's Sex Positive (in thinking) Community Center. You will need to be on our mailing list to receive the reminder and the location.

Carpooling is encouraged. If you need a ride or would like to offer a ride (a very friendly and easy way to meet others, particularly if you are new to Seattle or the group), please e-mail us with your phone number and where you will be coming from.

Bus numbers 15 and 18 from downtown or Ballard stop in front or across the street. Bus numbers 19 and 24 and 33 stop a few blocks away (ask the driver to let you off before s/he turns onto Garfield or the bridge coming from downtown or after they turn onto 15th Avenue West if coming from Magnolia.

P lease try to bring your own plates and utensils. A microwave is available and kitchen space at the Center for Sex Positive Culture is limited. Identify on a piece of paper the ingredients in your meal including spices and seasonings. Most people make their own meals. Some members are on limited diets. For that reason, some folks bring vegan or vegetarian meals. Out of considerations for others with allergies, please avoid wearing any scents including scented soaps, perfumes or colognes.

W e chitchat from 5:00 to 5:15 p.m., dinner is from 5:15-6:00 p.m. (it is customary to change places and meet new people if you get up for seconds) and small group discussion is from 6:00-7:15 p.m. with a closing or sharing (hugging) circle beginning at 7:15 p.m. and clean up thereafter as another event takes place after us.

A sliding scale small donation of $3-5 is requested to cover the cost for space rental, donations to our Web site provider, photocopies of articles on polygamy, polyandry, polygyny, polyfidelity, polyintimacy, polyamory, responsible non-monogamy, multipartner relationships, sharing their mates with others, open marriage, and/or group marriage, and expense for our shared phone line.

N o one will be turned away for an inability to pay. Please give what you can reasonably afford.

I f you are unable to come to the Potluck and would like to make a donation,
please send it to

Seattle Polyfidelity Group
c/o SBWN, PO Box 30645
Greenwood Station
Seattle, WA 98113-0645

Donations are tax deductible if made out to the
Seattle Bisexual Women's Network (SBWN)

Children
If your partner doesn't know you want to be non-monogamous, are you "cheating?"
How to meet like minded people
Success in using "personal ads" in the "alternative" sections of the Stranger, Seattle Weakly (sic), alt.polyamory newsgroup on the Internet, Bisexual Options, PolyMatchMaker (178 listings for Washington State and free to post and respond), kink-friendly Pearz (170 listings for this state; free to post a comprehensive ad, charge to respond) or Loving More magazine; charge to post, free to respond and not swinger oriented, etc.
Communication
Are poly-minded people more likely to be "bisexual?"
(from a small discussion group where 10 of the 11 members identified themselves as "bi-minded"
Rules (i.e. "no secrets, no surprises.")

Sea-Poly E-Mail List: This very active 700 member list is for Seattle-area polyfolk to discuss just about anything and everything relating to polyamory. Topics of discussion can be just about anything, from discussion of personal issues, to poly philosophies, to social announcements/planning. To sign up and find out more information, visit their Web page. The listing with yahoogroups contains member pictures and profiles, calendar of local poly events, an extensive list of local poly-friendly counselors and members businesses and services, and personal ads for members. The list is administered by several moderators.

South King County Polyamory Group This 62 member group is for folks living in Auburn, Black Diamond, Des Moines, Enumclaw, Federal Way, Kent, Normandy Park, Renton, SeaTac, Skyway Tukwila to name a few.

South Sound (Olympia/Tacoma Poly Group): Organized by two bi-poly couples in Tacoma and Olympia, Washington (State). A way for those poly folks in the south sound and Thurston and Pierce County areas to network and hopefully have some regular get-togethers.

There is also a Kitsap Poly group for folks in Kitsap County including Bremerton, Poulsbo, and Bainbridge Island.

Olympia Poly-Intimacy Network (OPIN): An Olympia, Washington based organization of and for people open to the possibility of ethical, intimate relationships with more than one person. Sex positive and life-affirming individuals are welcome from all backgrounds, genders, and sexual orientations. We invite anyone interested in polyamory, intimate networks, or responsible non-monogamy to join us and you don't need to be a practicing poly. We are about honesty and communication.

Les-Bi-Poly A group of 65+ lesbian and bisexual women in this area who identify as poly. The discussion group and events listing is for all lesbian and bi identified poly women only. However, the events and activities posted are for the Seattle, and greater Puget Sound, areas only. To subscribe: Les-Bi-Poly-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit the group's home page.

SPIN: Seattle Polyamory Intimate Network or SPIN meets every month on the fourth Sunday late afternoon to early evening. E-mail them for more information or visit their web site. The group has been planning other social events as well.

Seattle Sexuality Resource Guide
Administered by the Society for Human Sexuality. One of the best on-line guides to sexuality based events in the Greater Seattle and Western Washington area, about learning more and finding support, getting supplies, socializing and having fun, BDSM resource guide, national sexuality resource guide, and comprehensive events, calendar. They also have an announcements and discussion e-mail list.

Eastern Washington and North Idaho Poly Group. The group can be found at http://www.groups.yahoogroups.com/inwpoly or email the organizer at inwpoly@lewiston.com.

The alt.polyamory Usenet Newsgroup.
General information about polyamory and links to personal web pages, events, mailing lists, and groups in other cities, FAQs (frequently asked questions), newsgroup excerpts, poly culture (books, movies, songs about), poly personals, essays, Howard Landman's Polyamory Index to religion, organizations, law, psychology, sociology, biology, articles, movies, and songs of a poly nature, poly art, t-shirts n'stuff, etc. Another good group is Polyamory.com

Alternatives to Marriage Project (ATMP). A national organization that provides resources, advocacy, and support to people who have chosen not to get married, are unable to marry, or are in the process of deciding whether marriage is right for them.

There are over five and a half million unmarried cohabiting couples in the United States today, and this number continues to grow. The reasons people choose not to get married are varied, and range from simple to complex. Some, like same-gender couples and those in relationships of more than two people, are not legally allowed to marry.

ATMP believes that everyone should have the right to marry. But we also need an expanded definition of relationships and families that is inclusive of those who decide, for whatever reason, that marriage is not for them. People may experience pressure to marry from their family, friends, and communities, and they may face discrimination on the basis of their marital status.

There is no organized movement to provide social and support networks for unmarried couples. The Alternatives to Marriage Project seeks to fill this need.

The Alternatives to Marriage Project is open to everyone, including singles, couples, people in relationships with more than two people, and people of all genders and sexual orientations.

Network for a New Culture is a community of people in Portland (there is a similar community in Arizona and several large and ongoing ones in Europe) who are interested in creating a more viable style of communal living involving non-monogamy. NFNC communities in Europe (which have ties to the Green party and environmentalist politics) have proved to be quite productive and stable, unlike many other efforts at long-term communal living.

Rather than supporting a live-in arrangement, the Portland NFNC community hosts periodic get-togethers and sponsors a yearly "Summer Camp" near Portland or you contact them at 1-800-624-8445.

Crackers is a fairly quiet and friendly electronic mailing list of Portland poly folks, and much of the traffic is social announcements. Membership on this mailing list is by sponsorship. For more information about Crackers browse this link: http://x11.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=368240253 [after this information was posted to another list, a Crackers member wrote in with the following update about the previous link: "Much of the info at this web address is correct, but the monthly munch has moved locations and now meets at a local cafe on the last Sunday of each month from 2-4; we're the large, friendly group that takes over the back half of the cafe. Also, the mail list has changed servers -- it's no longer at Teleport -- but the list administrator remains the same ownercrackers@polyrose.org for details."]

There is also a Portland-area poly co-housing mailing list; write to ownerpolycohol@teleport.com for more details about joining.

Another site is Polyrose.org. This site is sponsored by a loosely-associated group of Portland-area people involved in or interested in consensual multi-adult relationships. There is also a moderated Portland Poly List at Yahoogroups. Another list if you live in Bend, Oregon is Bend-Poly-Community.