West Hollywood has become the latest California city to formally recognize polyamorous relationships through a new domestic partnership registry.
The ordinance, introduced by Mayor John Heilman, passed the City Council unanimously on Tuesday. It allows three or more individuals to register their relationship with the city clerk by submitting paperwork that demonstrates mutual consent and confirms no blood relations exist among participants.
Registration is open to people regardless of where they live, meaning non-residents can also have their relationships officially recognized under the measure. Those who register gain specific protections, including hospital visitation rights at healthcare facilities and city-operated jails, as well as housing safeguards that prevent landlords from terminating or refusing to renew a lease when a registered partner remains in the rental property.
Chelsea Lee Byers, the council member who introduced the measure, called the protections “long overdue.” She noted they arrive at a time when rising costs and broader economic pressures are already squeezing residents’ access to services.
The ordinance does not provide the same legal rights afforded to married couples or traditional domestic partners under state law. Still, supporters argue it marks a meaningful step toward addressing barriers faced by adults in multi-partner relationships, particularly in housing, healthcare and education settings where policies typically assume two-person partnerships.
Christina Fialho, an attorney and founder of the bisexual media representation advocacy group Rewrite the BiLine, first proposed the idea of polyamory protections to Byers in early 2025. Fialho told the Los Angeles Times that “this law is just the beginning.”
“I think it makes it possible for people to dream about a future they once thought was out of reach,” she said.
Fialho had previously told the LA Times that she introduced the concept to Byers last year. “Cities are realizing families come in many forms and that they should protect, not police those relationships,” she added.
The council’s action this week followed months of groundwork. In March, the WeHo City Council voted unanimously to advance the plan for multi-partner recognition, and by then officials had already approved an anti-discrimination ordinance adding “family or relationship structure” as a protected class. That earlier measure was designed to shield people in polyamorous and other nontraditional households from discrimination in housing, healthcare and education. The council also created a task force to determine how a multi-partner domestic partnership registry would actually function.
Megan Katz, a 51-year-old West Hollywood librarian, illustrates the personal stakes. She has two children with her “nesting partner” and another partner with whom she does not live. Katz told the LA Times in March that while she hasn’t faced prejudice at work or in her neighborhood, she knows others who have. She voiced concern about potential fallout for her children.
“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.”
West Hollywood joins a small but growing number of jurisdictions addressing legal recognition for multi-partner relationships. Some Massachusetts municipalities already recognize multi-partner domestic partnerships, and California cities including Berkeley and Oakland have taken steps to ban discrimination based on family structure.
The movement has drawn opposition. As Berkeley and Oakland prepared to pass their laws, the California Family Council, a conservative religious advocacy group, spoke out against them and described support for polyamorous relationships as “cultural suicide.”
The West Hollywood ordinance takes effect as registered domestic partners in the city gain new tools to navigate systems historically built around couples.