‘ ‘ e_think it was a sign,” Craig explained. “Chris was the third guy we interviewed.” Craig and his partner, Darrin, recently bought a new house and soon discovered that their monthly expenses were more than they had originally estimated. So, to help make ends meet, they decided to rent out one of their extra bedrooms. Craig characterized the first two would-be roommate/ten- ants they interviewed as losers. “Then, Chris showed up and he was actually nice and normal,” Craig cooed. “We both liked him right from the start. He had a ’ good job and great references. We offered him the room on the spot.” That weekend, Chris . moved in and the transition went without a hitch. “It was like he had always been there,” Craig recalled. “We’d be watching TV in the living room and he’d come in and curl up on thecouch with us. I know it sounds weird but it seemed so unbelievably natural.” Shoul Craig allowed himself to act on his attraction. He and Chris slept together several times, while Darrin was away. A week later, Chris ended up in bed with Darrin, when Craig went to a baseball game with a co-worker. “It was a , rocky couple of days, after Darrin told me what happened between them,” Craig related. “We went through all the anger, jealousy and betrayal stuff. Darrin was pissed off that I hadn’t told him and we were both sort of territori- al about Chris. It wasn’t pretty.” I had visions ‘of an after- noon talk show meltdown and was ready for Craig to tell me Is three company? (I we all be looking for partners - plural - instead of a single mate? Chris made himself completely at home. Most days, he stripped down to skimpy briefs as soon as he got home from work. Chris spent a lot of time at the gym and Craig and Darrin appreciated the results on display. It didn’t take much coax- ing for the landlords to join their tenant in his state of minimal attire, shedding their inhibitions, . along with their clothes. “Darrin and I spent a lot of time talking about how much we liked Chris and how hot we thought he was,” Craig con- fessed. When Darrin went out of town on business for a few days, that he and Darrin had split up after nine years as a happy cou- ple. “Then, Chris told us that he was going to move out because he felt like it was all his fault,” Craig continued. “But Darrin and I assured him that we hadn’t been forced to do anything " and that we were responsible for our own actions. And, before we knew what was happening, we were having this big three-way hug and kiss.” Craig, Darrin and Chris have been a trio for almost six months. They function very much like traditional couples, except that there are three people instead of two. They share one big king- size bed, split the household chores three ways and all con- tribute to the family budget in an amount proportional to how much each one earns. Three horny gay men in Utopia. Craig sensed my incred- ulousness and quickly affirmed‘ the blissfulness of their new situ- ation. “It was always good, when it was just me and Darrin. But it’s even better, now.” Before I could ask about the sexual logistics, he was ready with the specifics. “Sometimes we all do it together and, sometimes, it’s only two of us.” Is three company? Should we all be looking for part- ners — plural — instead of a single mate? A mini cyber-sympo- sium offered little support for the three-part-harmony approach to domestic bliss. My friend Joel was dubious. “I have enough trouble keeping one boyfriend happy. Having two would be masochis- tic.” Joshua chimed in with a decorator’s question. “So do they have his and his and his towels?” Peter offered the per- spective of someone who’d been in polyamorous situations. “My lover and Iwere together for two years before we added a third guy and, then, a fourth. We weren’t having a real relationship with those other guys. We were just trying to keep the sex interesting. My lover and I finally figured out that what we were lacking wasn’t other people, it was stuff we had to work on within ourselves.” Without walking in Craig, Chris and Darrin’s shoes — all three pair — it’s impossible to know whether they’ve found the perfect combination for lifelong happiness or just a temporary fix for bedroom boredom. In the meantime, the sign for them should be: “Proceed with caution.” V D. Scott-Bush is work appears in publications throughout the coun- try. E-mail may be directed to NakedCuri0sity@aol.com. ©2002 liberation cont’d from previous page such changes in Church practice as allowing mass to be said in local languages rather than in Latin, the language of the Church elite. McNeill quotes Blondell: “Our only God dwells within us, and the only way that we can become one with our God is to become one with our authentic self.” As queers, our struggle to come out is often a struggle to become one with our authentic self. To achieve that union, we build communities with other queer people, we seek a spiritual and moral compass and we work for liberation from the chains cast upon us by earthly hierarchies. I am heartened to learn about John J. McNeill’s struggle to stake out a space for us within the Roman Catholic Church. A Google search on “books on liberation theology” will get you almost two dozen hits, with perhaps a quarter of those including lists and/or notable authors. The fourth edition of The Church and the Homosexual is available from Beacon Press, while John J. McNeill’s autobiography, Both Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air, is available from Westminster John Knox Press. The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry’s website can be found at www.clgs.org. V Pippin, aka Christopher Kaufman, is in spiritual practice at Faerie Camp_Destiny and serves as the Executive Director ofR. U. 1.2? Community Center . Does history hide nes, movie posters, old ads, theater & concert programs 8: tickets, record albums, baseball cards, buttons, autographs... in your bureau drawer? If you have a collection of interesting stuff from days gone by, don"t hide it. Frame 1' t! Our certified framers will preserve your valuable ephemera in archival frames for permanent enjoyment. 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