Judge: COVID Rules Don't Inhibit Polyamorous Life
British Columbia's pandemic restrictions are tough enough to understand, a judge says, before you throw in an alternative lifestyle. "The messaging accompanying these orders, and indeed the language of the orders themselves, is fraught with inconsistency and ambiguity," Justice Nigel Kent said in ruling that a divorced man's two young children can visit him in his home during the pandemic, despite the fact that the father lives with his new partner and her husband. The children's mother had argued that the Vancouver man's living arrangement could put the children at risk of contracting the coronavirus, the CBC reports."She has a husband who she lives with," the mother wrote in an email. "I am not okay with that exposure." The health orders prohibit visits to a home unless the host lives alone; then one or two people with whom the host regularly interacts can come over or stay there.But the rules don't specify what "living on their own" or "regular interaction" mean, Kent said. Other questions he considered include whether a polyamorous woman with a husband at a primary residence become an "occupant" of another residence with her lover. In reviewing the rules, Kent said, "It is not surprising that reasonable people can disagree about their interpretation and application in any given circumstance." In deciding to allow the visits, the judge said there was no reason to think the adults were being reckless concerning coronavirus issues. British Columbia's Center for Disease Control urges people to avoid close contact and sex with anyone who doesn't live with them during the pandemic, per the CBC. "This has left a big gap for people who don't have typical nuclear families," said one polyamorous woman. QUESTIONS:1) Specify British Columbia's pandemic restrictions.2) How did Justice Nigel Kent's explain the problematic interpretation of the law?3) Provide some details on one Vancouver man's living arrangement. Why is her ex-wife strongly against the visitation of the children?4) Should polyamory fall subject to strict restraints? Why or why not?5) Given the atypical family setting, would exposing kids to this be all okay? What makes you think so? VOCABULARY/EXPRESSION:polyamorous - characterized by or involved in the practice of engaging in multiple romantic (and typically sexual) relationships, with the consent of all the people involved
