West Hollywood To Officially Recognise Poly & Multi-Partner Relationships

By Jacques Nieuwoudt

According the Los Angeles Times, the law, introduced by Mayor John Heilman and approved unanimously by the city’s five-person Council, will give polyamorous families the right to hospital visitation and additional tenant protections, among other concessions.

While the ordinance does not afford polyamorous people the same rights that marriage or state domestic partnership laws do, LGBTQ+ rights groups say it is a huge step forward for the recognition of non-nuclear families.

“This law is just the beginning,” Christina Fialho told the Los Angeles Times. Fialho, an attorney and the founder of the Bisexual advocacy group Rewrite the BiLine, had brought the idea of polyamory protections to the West Hollywood City Council in early 2025.

“I think it makes it possible for people to dream about a future they once thought was out of reach,” she said.

How Does West Hollywood’s New Poly Policy Work?

The ordinance will allow groups of three or more people to file a statement with the city clerk acknowledging their relationship, provided it meets certain requirements (e.g. it is consensual and no parties are related by blood).

One this statement is filed, polyamorous relationship members will be able to benefit from a number of exceptions traditionally reserved for two-person partnerships, including healthcare facilities and jails allowing all partners of a patient/inmate to visit; and greater protections against lease termination or nonrenewal in the event a partner continues to occupy the property.

It comes after the Massachusetts cities of Somerville and Cambridge became the first U.S. cities to expand their registrars to accept multi-partner relationships in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

Conservative Backlash

When Fox News announced the landmark ordinance on their Instagram page, it was immediately met with hysterics in the comments. 

“We are living in end times for sure. Good grief.” one Instagram user wrote.

Others similarly claimed that “Society has fallen”, with one user presupposing that “Marrying your cat or dog is next”, a popular utilisation of the slippery slope fallacy that has long been described as “almost always anti-rational fearmongering”.

More than one commenter called West Hollywood the new “Sodom and Gomorrah”, a “wicked” city that was righteously destroyed by god with fire and sulfur in Abrahamic mythologies. 

In response, opponents of terrorism and urbicidal fantasy have pointed out that instead of wishing death upon human beings that love more than one person, religious conservatives might be better served asking why they are sourcing their morality from a book that condones racial slavery, female servitude, and genocide.

Source: https://www.starobserver.com.au/news/west-hollywood-to-officially-recognise-poly-multi-partner-relationships/244977