Polyamorous relationships closer to legal protections

West Hollywood has approved advancing a plural domestic partnership registry.

- BY SUHAUNA HUSSAIN

CARLIN STIEHL For The Times CHRISTINA FIALHO of Rewrite the BiLine, left, Councilmember Chelsea Lee Byers and librarian Megan Katz support the law on polyamorous relationships.

Megan Katz hasn't always been so forthcoming about the fact that she dates outside her marriage.

Katz, 51, a librarian in West Hollywood, has two children with her “nesting partner,” and another partner whom she does not live with. She has not experienced prejudice at work or in her neighborhood but knows others who have. She also fears her kids could be ostracized or face discrimination because of her romantic arrangement.

"I do have some consternation," Katz said. "Once you're out, you can’t put that cat back in the bag. You can’t unring that bell."

But in early March, Katz proclaimed herself "proudly polyamorous" in support of a novel law championed in West Hollywood to protect polyamorous domestic partnerships.

West Hollywood's five-person City Council on March 2 unanimously approved advancing a registry of multi-partner domestic relationships.

It’s the latest of a few cities in the U.S. to pursue legal protection for groups of more than two adults living in a single household who are romantically or otherwise committed to one another. Such family structures, experts say, can face systemic barriers in housing, healthcare, education and other services where existing policies often assume dual income or nuclear households.

Actual implementation of a plural domestic partnership registry, however, is still at least several months away. The council established a task force to work out the details, and return to the council within six months with recommendations on next steps at which point the council would take another vote.