West Hollywood approved a registry for multi-partner domestic relationships Monday, Nov. 2, PinkNews reported, citing a 5–0 City Council vote. Ordinance No. 26-13 establishes a registration process and adds housing and visitation protections. The measure appeared as item B.5 on the council’s Nov. 2 agenda. The city had not yet posted a written vote result when Gayety checked Tuesday.
“Millions of Americans live in polyamorous and non-monogamous relationships, yet the law recognizes only one kind of family,” Brett Chamberlin wrote in a public comment on the item Monday morning. Under the ordinance, committed groups of three or more adults, whether a throuple or a bigger polycule, will be able to register with the city clerk and get hospital and jail visitation rights plus some protection from rent increases and evictions, Beverly Press reported after the council’s first vote Oct. 19. It also amends two chapters of the code “to include protections for persons in multi-partner domestic relationships,” the agenda says.
Chamberlin is executive director of the Organization for Polyamory and Ethical Nonmonogamy, the Los Angeles Times has reported. His comment opened, “OPEN, a nonprofit working for the rights of non-monogamous people and chosen families, strongly supports Item B.5.”
What the West Hollywood Polyamory Registry Won’t Get You
Registration won’t bring marriage rights, health insurance through a partner, inheritance rights or federal tax benefits, which state and federal law control, Beverly Press reported.
“No additional employee benefit costs are anticipated from adoption of the proposed ordinance,” City Attorney Lauren Langer told WEHOonline, which reported that staff put the city’s cost at “negligible.”
In March, when the council first asked staff to study a registry, Langer called the benefits piece “the more complicated part,” according to WEHOonline.
Each person can be in only one registered group at a time, Beverly Press reported, and anyone who leaves has to wait six months to join another, the same rule the city’s two-person registry uses. “You must wait six (6) months before filing for a new domestic partnership,” its FAQ tells couples.
From 1985 Domestic Partners to Ordinance No. 26-13
West Hollywood, home of the dance floor in Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club, set up the country’s first domestic partnership registry in 1985, the Times reported. Chamberlin called the new ordinance “another pioneering step others will follow.”
In March, the council adopted Ordinance No. 26-06, a separate law “prohibiting discrimination on the basis of family or relationship structure,” in the words of the city’s agenda. The council also told staff to form a task force and study a registry, Beverly Press reported. At the March 2 meeting, Councilmember John Erickson called the anti-discrimination vote “a really monumental moment for the City,” WEHOonline reported.
Councilmember Chelsea Lee Byers made the motion that night. “Especially in despairing economic times we need to ensure people aren’t being denied access,” Byers said, according to the Times.
Somerville Beat WeHo to Polyamorous Partnerships by Six Years
Somerville, Mass., opened a new domestic partnership ordinance to relationships of more than two people in 2020, CNN reported. “Folks live in polyamorous relationships and have for probably forever. Right now, our laws deny their existence and that doesn’t strike me as the right way to write laws at any level,” Councilor Lance Davis said then.
Davis told CNN the measure started as a way for unmarried residents to visit partners hospitalized with the coronavirus. “Maybe others will follow our lead,” he said.
Cambridge and Arlington, also in Massachusetts, followed in 2021, according to the Times. “The current legal system was never designed for all of us,” Christina Fialho, an attorney and founder of Rewrite the BiLine, said in the paper’s story. Berkeley and Oakland took a different route in 2024, with ordinances that ban discrimination tied to family structure, the Times reported. “Cities are realizing families come in many forms and that they should protect, not police those relationships,” Fialho said.
When Does West Hollywood’s Multi-Partner Registry Take Effect?
PinkNews reports that the ordinance takes effect 30 days after adoption. The registration fee still needs a public hearing, according to Beverly Press. The city has not announced a registration opening date. California’s Government Code sets the clock for city laws: “Ordinances take effect 30 days after their final passage.”
