X-Message-Number: 1121 Date: 10 Aug 92 19:01:45 EDT From: Charles Platt <> Subject: Re: Obligation to Loved Ones in Suspension I have read Allen Lopp's message on this subject. I say again: my question presupposed that the couple involved was monogamous. Otherwise, there would be no problem, right? I realize that monogamy is less common among gays than straights. I also realize that there have been some successful attempts at polygamy and polyandry. I do live in one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world; in fact, my home is in the heart of New York's gay neighborhood, and I used to write a column for *The Fetish Times* that entailed familiarity with many forms of "alternate lifestyles." Thus, I am a little irritated by the seemingly universal assumption that I must either be a) naive or b) blinkered by conformity, just because I assumed in my example that a couple might enjoy conventional marriage. The fact is, there are many hetero (and some gay) couples who have had prior experience of other sexual arrangements, but find it more satisfying to bond with one person. It is a bit facile to say that monogamy is merely an artifice of the church or "social conditioning." Society and religion are not just the cause, but also the result, of human behavior. For a deeply bonded, sexually exclusive couple, the death of one person creates a problem which *is made worse by cryonics*. I get the impression that this is not a very popular thing to say. Everyone seems to want to explain it away or minimize it. But, there it is, it exists, and I guess that when all is said and done, we don't really know what to do about it. --Charles Platt Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=1121