ABSTRACT
Using an academic letter format, I use a blended-methodological approach of personal ethnography and qualitative case study to assess the three-partner, gay male relationship and the role of parental support. In working to understand better the relational “We 3,” I first provide an account of my relational experience with two other men. I discuss the process of our coming together and then make a methodological turn to provide insights from both e-mail and face-to-face interviews with one set of parents who have supported their gay son in his three-partner relationship. As I, personally, have not had an indepth conversation with my own parents regarding this issue, I use the parental case study to bridge an academic conversation regarding the negotiation of what might be termed a second or relational coming-out process with parents. Finally, I discuss how insights from the first, personal coming-out process provided the parents with tools to keep the conversation going and to support their son’s relational coming out as a “We 3.”
