A group of five gay men in a polyamorous relationship have shared how they feel 'lucky' to have found each other. The group, who live in California's South Bay area, host a podcast called The Cule Kids, a play on 'the cool kids' and 'polycule', a term for a group of three or more people in an intimate non-monogamous relationship.
The relationship began with James Lee, 37, and Jonathan Chien, 37, who started dating in 2013 after meeting at college in 2009. They later married in October 2022. The pair were in an open relationship from the start, meaning they could have sex with other people.
They connected with Eric Wong, 33, in December 2018, Hamilton Du, 35, in December 2021, and Michael Li, 31, in August 2022. The five established a friends-with-benefits arrangement and created a group chat. In January 2023, Michael renamed the chat 'The Polycule', and within a year they formalised their arrangement as a five-person polycule.
The group bond through video games, cruises, travel to Asia, and music festivals. They also keep a 'cule log' for transparency about sexual encounters outside their relationship. Hamilton, known as Milty, said: 'I feel so lucky that we have all met each other and that we're all open to being in a relationship like this.'
Michael said he was initially drawn to the group after seeing them acting 'kind of cuddly' at a party. He said: 'I was trying to keep hold of these new, interesting people that I met, so I would invite myself over to watch a movie or TV show.' The five now live within 30 minutes of each other and hope to have children in the future, but have a major rule: they all must agree before any new addition to the family.
