A cake for a thruple’s wedding. Photocredit: Funny Potato
The background
Three people in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo have managed to tie the knot – with each other. A public notary, Claudia do Nascimento Domingues, cemented the union, and said that the man and two women should have family rights. The three, who do not want to speak to the press, have lived together for three years, sharing expenses. They also have a joint bank account, reported the BBC. It isn’t clear whether courts and other institutions will recognize the union.
“We are only recognising what has always existed. We are not inventing anything. For better or worse, it doesn’t matter, but what we considered a family before isn’t necessarily what we would consider a family today,” said Claudia do Nascimento Domingues, quoted on the BBC.
Absurd and immoral
A lawyer, Regina Beatriz Taveres da Silva said that it was “absurd and totally illegal,” and that it was “something completely unacceptable which goes against Brazilian values and morals.”
They have their “nation up in arms,” said Jean Hannah Edelstein on The Guardian. But let’s look at traditional marriages – we’re not very “good at keeping our promises.” Lots of marriages “have three people in them. They’re just not legal.” Marriage is weird – the government shouldn’t be able to dictate who can do it. It starts to look “illiberal.” Maybe if more people married “simultaneously”, more marriages would be successful. The fact is, “three’s not a crowd for everyone.”
What the hell is a thruple?
The Urban Dictionary helpfully defined a thruple (which, notes Periscope, ought to be pronounced “throople”; it should really be spelled “thrupple” or “throuple”): “Three-way relationship. Properly known by polyamorists as a triad. Amusingly known by many gay men as a ‘thruple.’ In a gay thruple, there is twice the sex, but six times the emotional baggage, as the joke goes.”
The thin end of the wedge
The Beforeitsnews blog said: “It’s a logical extension of the argument and a logical progression of the redefinition process. And with groups like PETA out there, I fully expect the next thing on the docket will be “inter-species” marriage; I just LOVE my dog! And some whackjob from NOW or headcase like Sandra Fluk will “express a deep and meaningful relationship with Mr. Vibrator” which can only be truly fulfilled by a legal recognition of marriage between a human and machinery. Oh, yes, my friends — the thruple is coming and might just be between a woman, a Great Dane and a dildo.”
