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By: ZACK HUDSON
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During the course of their decade long relationship, Scott Horton and Christopher Walters have found themselves in the position of being relationship role models for their friends and other gay couples with less time together under their belts.
“We just found that other couples were coming up and asking us how we live our lives,” Horton says. “And we even started wondering, ‘How do guys learn this stuff?’”
Then a light bulb went off between the two men, and 2 Days 2 Men 2 Grow, an annual weekend conference for gay male couples, was born. This year’s conference is scheduled for July 14-15.
Horton says the event is a supportive, relaxed place for couples to learn skills and ideas from experts and other couples to enhance their shared lives, but should not be considered couples counseling.
When gay men form successful unions, they often do so without role models to gauge their relationships against. The 2 Days conference aims to fill that gap with feedback from other couples.
“Growing up, you don’t learn from families or neighbors how two same-sex partners manage a life together,” Horton says. “This weekend is a chance to bust through that and give people a chance to learn from experts, and more than anything, give people a chance to get to know and learn from other couples.”
The two-day event, which takes place in a fraternity house dormitory on the Emory University campus, is packed with seminars, workshops and social time. Franklin Abbott, a couples counselor, and Michael Alvear, a sex columnist, lead popular sessions, according to Horton.
The conference is only open to couples, Horton says, and all can benefit.
“I don’t know any couples who don’t say that they could communicate better,” he says. “Every couple has periods of time where they kind of lose their connection. Life gets in the way. And what it’s all about is finding someone you are committed to.”
Participation for conference attendees is strictly voluntary, and the conference and its facilitators welcome all topics for discussion.
“There’s never any awkwardness during the weekend, so I can’t even think of what any off-limits topics would be,” Horton says.
Profits from the two-day conference are earmarked for Project Open Hand and Joining Hearts.
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