This is Katie. She fell in love with Louis.
Katie: I was a church kid. We were both church kids.
She also fell in love with Raquel.
Katie: We like instantly clicked.
Their unconventional relationship was scandalized amongst their religious community.
Leila: There's an understanding that their relationship is sinful.
Raquel: We've had our share of backlash from the really conservative folk.
And even judged harshly by those closest to them.
Raquel: Our families don't accept it.
But will the church ever accept that on the conventional relationship?
Louis: I met Katie in 2002, 2003.
We clicked pretty quickly. She came to my church and I am a musician and she's a musician.
And we quickly became really good friends got together as a couple and we got married in 2006.
Katie: He's the only man I've ever loved. And the only man who's ever loved me, not just loved me,
but has cared for me and being so gentle and so kind with me.
Louis: And here we are married 13 years later.
Churchgoers Katie and Louis, look like the perfect couple to the rest of their congregation.
Katie: Louis and I didn't have sex before marriage. Louis and I courted for what six months.
That means we only held hands before we even got to a kiss.
Despite their strict Pentecostal upbringing, a chance meeting introduced a third person into their lives.
Katie: I met Raquel at a baby shower that I was hired to go and cover
as a photographer. I look around and the first person I see is Raquel
and she just has this big beautiful smile and I just I just kind of gravitated towards her.
We both felt the instant connection.
Louis: I married Katie knowing full well beforehand that you know she was bisexual.
Katie: I never really explored it because out of fear of not having God on my side.
He just was so open and so lovingly, like willing to just say,
you know what, I know you never explored this side of your sexuality before.
And I'd love for you to explore it. As long as we set some boundaries. I'm okay with this.
Louis: I'm kind of the notion of if it's truly meant for you,
that person is truly meant for you. They're going to be in your life.
Raquel: It’s my 21 Katie: It’s her 21st .
Raquel: Katie got pregnant with Lucas in 2014.
Lucas was actually born on the day of me and Katie's one year anniversary.
Wow, Lucas, look at that kale. Lucas: Ew.
Raquel: Not ew. I was there at the birth with them.
Me and Louis were right beside Katie.
Louis: Lucas really just came out of nowhere.
Katie: We had not been able to get pregnant for 10 years.
Katie: And it didn't happen until we get a third.
You know, like, I think that, you know, if God He has a sense of humour.
I'm not going to see him tonight. I'm going to miss you.
We became unconventional. And I think that's when I really started to just notice
in my faith journey started to just shift the banner my perception of who God is started to shift.
Thank you, God. Thank you, God.
Thank you, God, for this food. You're so good to us.
Thank you, God. Raquel: Say thank you.
Lucas: Thank you. Raquel: God.
Katie: He has no other reality. There's no explaining to him.
I think he just knows that he has, you know, two mamas.
Louis: In the beginning, I was so sure in Katie in our, in ours relationship
was just so sure and solid, that it didn't feel threatening at all.
Raquel: All three of us have felt jealousy at some point or another.
Katie: It just became clear that there was just no way …
Raquel: It was hard.
Katie: That I was going to be able to maintain these two separate relationships.
Raquel: In 2017, that's when it organically happened
that you know, we merged and became a throuple.
Katie: Where it's just one relationship. Raquel: Yeah, there was one relationship.
Moving into a singular relationship, created more harmony for the throuple,
but brought new issues into the fold.
Katie: I was a church kid, we were both church, kids we’re all church kids.
Raquel: Every single step has been difficult,
Katie: Especially being people of faith.
And those closest to them judge their relationship.
Raquel: Our families don't accept it.
Our families are very fundamental Christian.
Our relationship is seen as an abomination to God.
My family doesn't want to step foot in our home, they want to live in a false reality.
To my family, I am still a 26 year old single woman
who is not bisexual.
With Katie, Louis and Raquel committed to their polyamorous lifestyle,
the time can came to be completely open about their relationship.
Katie: We had been in our relationship for what three years completely closeted,
having to hide her having to you know, everyone knew that
we've lived together that we were completely intertwined, but they didn't know everything.
I felt just very, very convicted to just tell the pastors
and I did and when I did, the pastor was very cordial.
Raquel: We've had our shared backlash from the really conservative folk.
He was in shock, like he didn't know how to take it.
That's the typical reaction for the majority of the people that we come out to.
Katie: And that's what he encouraged me to find an LGBTQ affirming church.
He said, Please, I know they exist. We're not there as a church.
Having been asked to leave their Pentecostal church,
they went in search of a church who would accept their relationship.
Louis: Yeah they’re going to give us a spoon in a minute. Hey Lucas.
Leila: I met Katie first, one of my colleagues said,
Leila, I just met another Latina Pentecostal from the Bronx. You got to meet her.
Hi
She started sharing her story.
And I remember thinking to myself, well, I definitely did not expect this.
And so I'm listening. I'm listening and my thing. My eyes are getting wider.
There's still many people that would be scandalized, and would even be scandalized by my acceptance of them.
And that's okay. That's okay, I'm very grounded in my faith.
Louis: God made us all different.God made people different.
Katie: We love each other, and we decided to do something bold and courageous.
I truly hope that one day we can see reconciliation with our families.
Leila: How do you judge and how do you point fingers and condemn
people that don't know any other way of being.
People are in and have been in polyamorous relationships for decades.
They've just been private about it.
So now we're in a place where it's public. This isn't a fad. This is a reality that has always been.
Louis: It takes a lot. There's a lot of communication involved. But I mean, we're happy where we're at.
Raquel: It works for us. We wouldn't have it any other way.