WEST HOLLYWOOD LETS THROUPLES AND FOURSOMES REGISTER AS DOMESTIC PARTNERS

The West Hollywood city council unanimously approved an ordinance that lets three or more people in a relationship register as domestic partners with the city, giving polyamorous groups rights like hospital visitation and extra tenant protections, the New York Post reports. Throuples, foursomes and larger groups all qualify, though the protections are narrower than what married couples or traditional domestic partners get.

Registering means filing paperwork with the city clerk. Participants must all consent to the relationship and cannot be related by blood. According to the Los Angeles Times, people who have already declared other partnerships can’t register.

The city’s official ordinance adds more fine print. Everyone must be at least 18, competent to enter a contract and share the common necessities of life. The statement generally has to be filed in person with valid ID from every member, or by mail if all signatures are notarized. It does not create a marriage or a state-registered domestic partnership, and it takes effect 30 days after adoption.

Registered partners get recognized visitation rights at healthcare facilities and city-operated jails. Landlords also can’t terminate or refuse to renew a lease when a partner remains in the rental. You don’t have to live in West Hollywood to sign up.

Christina Fialho, an attorney and founder of the bisexual media advocacy group Rewrite the BiLine, first pitched polyamory protections to Councilmember Chelsea Lee Byers in early 2025. She told the LA 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,” Fialho said.

Byers called the protections “long overdue.” At the council meeting, she said she would pursue amendments to clarify whether multiple two-person couples can register together, the LA Times reports.

The registry follows an earlier anti-discrimination ordinance that added “family or relationship structure” as a protected class. By March 2026, the council had also set up a task force to work out how a multi-partner registry would function. Some Massachusetts municipalities already recognize multi-partner domestic partnerships, and Berkeley and Oakland have moved to ban discrimination based on family structure.

Megan Katz, a 51-year-old West Hollywood librarian, told the LA Times in March that she has two children with her “nesting partner” and another partner she doesn’t live with. She hasn’t faced prejudice at work or in her neighborhood, but she knows people who have and worries her kids could be ostracized.

“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.”

Critics are not on board. When Berkeley and Oakland were preparing their laws, the California Family Council, a conservative religious advocacy group, called support for polyamorous relationships “cultural suicide.”