Some U.S. cities are legitimizing polyamory
When city council members in Somerville, Mass., added polyamorous relationships to local nondiscrimination rules last month, they did so with little fanfare or protest. The council passed the ordinance unanimously without any debate. Local news reports did not mention any complaints.
The move builds on an earlier council decision to legally recognize polyamorous relationships. These decisions may show Somerville’s liberal leanings, but they could also be a sign that Americans are inching closer to broad acceptance of romantic relationships among three or more people.
In 2020, Somerville became the first U.S. city to recognize polyamorous relationships officially. They did so by simply changing a few words. The city council expanded the definition of “domestic partnership” from an “entity formed by two persons” to “entity formed by people.” It also replaced the word “both” with “all.” According to The New York Times, the language was approved at the end of a virtual council meeting “so quickly and quietly that you could have easily missed it.”
Within a year, two nearby Massachusetts municipalities followed suit. The cities of Cambridge and Arlington passed similar ordinances recognizing multi-partner relationships in 2021. The online domestic partnership registration forms in Somerville and Arlington now include spaces for up to six names.
The 2020 action followed a Somerville constituent’s request for a policy that would expand legal protections to “domestic partnerships,” which typically include most unmarried couples. Domestic partner policies often allow unmarried couples to take advantage of each other’s employment benefits such as health insurance.
When city council members discussed the ordinance, they questioned what constituted a “domestic partnership.” Council members challenged the notion that couples had to live under the same roof. So they struck the residency requirement. Soon, the idea that these relationships had to be between just two people fell by the wayside, too.
