The West Hollywood City Council has unanimously approved an ordinance that declares public policy protecting "multipartner domestic relationships" involving three or more adults from discrimination. The council voted 5-0 to pass the measure, which takes effect 30 days after adoption.
The ordinance allows partners in such relationships to sign a declaration that is filed with the city clerk. The declaration grants hospital and jail visitation rights to the signing partners. The ordinance does not create marriage or registered domestic partnership status, and it states that it does not conflict with state or federal law. In practice, the document is designed to give people in these arrangements a formal way to establish visitation access in situations where a partner might otherwise be excluded.
The measure is the latest step in a series of local decisions on the issue. It follows an earlier anti-discrimination ordinance that the city passed in March, which laid the groundwork for the broader protections now in place. West Hollywood is among only a handful of local governments in the country that have adopted protections of this kind, placing the Southern California city in a small group of jurisdictions formally recognizing non-traditional family arrangements at the municipal level.
The council's action has drawn sharp criticism from family-policy scholars. Brad Wilcox, a professor at the University of Virginia and a scholar with the Institute for Family Studies, opposes the ordinance. Wilcox argues that it normalizes adults living with unrelated children, a concern that centers on the household arrangements the measure could affect. He also contends that the ordinance could pave the way for polygamy, a claim that critics of the measure have linked to the question of how far municipal recognition of multipartner unions might extend.
Wilcox also cites research linking such arrangements to worse outcomes for children, though the source material does not detail the specific studies he references. His objections place the West Hollywood decision at the center of a broader national debate over how local governments should treat family structures that fall outside marriage and traditional domestic partnerships.
The city's communications department did not respond to requests for comment on the ordinance or on the criticism raised against it. As a result, the council's own reasoning for the measure, and its response to the concerns raised by Wilcox, are not part of the public record in this report. The ordinance's practical impact will become clearer once it takes effect and residents begin filing declarations with the city clerk.